Helium Balloon Limits
If I let a helium balloon go, how high will it go? Will it go to the moon?
———- from Edward Harvey of Venice Beach, Ca
It depends on how high you are at the time you release it. Since you say you live on the beach in Southern California, you may be way out there already, high above the Van Allen belts. Your balloon would only have to be blown a short distance by the solar wind in order to bump into the moon. Of course, all this goofing off with balloons isn’t really getting you anywhere, is it? The fact that you can play a passable version of “Stairway to Heaven” on your battered guitar seems a pretty poor accomplishment for a man in his mid-forties, don’t you think? Time to come down to earth and take stock of where you’re really at, right now, in your little furnished room on the Venice boardwalk.
It depends on how high you are at the time you release it. Since you say you live on the beach in Southern California, you may be way out there already, high above the Van Allen belts. Your balloon would only have to be blown a short distance by the solar wind in order to bump into the moon. Of course, all this goofing off with balloons isn’t really getting you anywhere, is it? The fact that you can play a passable version of “Stairway to Heaven” on your battered guitar seems a pretty poor accomplishment for a man in his mid-forties, don’t you think? Time to come down to earth and take stock of where you’re really at, right now, in your little furnished room on the Venice boardwalk. 