The Balloon Effect !!
It’s always good to see something go up, whether it’s growth or income; however, sometimes something going up doesn’t look good, like the price of goods :). When I was growing up, I used to visit beaches, and I encountered my first visual image of something going up: a balloon. I used to wonder how a balloon could fly, and later, as usual, like all others who don’t like to study science, I came across the concept of how a balloon could fly.
Let’s sprinkle some scientific facts about the balloon on our curiosity, not to bore anyone, but to understand some facts. Before we do that, let’s understand different types of balloons. The one that many of us have observed is the one where there is a gas cylinder, fill the gas in a balloon, and attach the string to it, and the other ones are those where we punish our parents for blowing air into the balloon for our fun. The science behind a helium balloon flying in the air is a combination of three things. a) Helium gas is lighter than the surrounding atmosphere, which creates the upward force for the balloon to fly. b) The gravitational force that pulls you down from going very high, and lastly, c) the air friction that pushes against the balloon, which simply controls the speed.
What the hell!! Why am I writing the thesis on how balloons fly? And honestly, I don’t even have any fantasy with balloons either :), but coming to the point, nature has its own way of teaching us the law, and it’s up to us whether to follow it or not. Imagine the balloon as a person, and he is filled with helium gas, which someone else has filled in, and he thinks himself superior to a balloon filled with air. The person thinks of himself growing faster than the other and climbing higher faster than the others, but he forgets that the gas filled in is not his strength, and the event of flying higher and faster is again not because of his own effort or intelligence; all these are borrowed assets, and it can turn around in a split second, as nothing is in his control.
Imagine any form of sharp object that looks quite small in front of a balloon can burst you in a second. The external air pressure decreases; this can cause the helium inside to expand, and it can burst the balloon, and there are many other reasons that are external and beyond the control of a human being that can burst the balloon as well. The bottom line is that many times we become so ignorant of the fact that we think that we are unbeatable, but the reality is that everything has its own highs and lows. What nature teaches us is to be humble and grateful for what we possess and not be arrogant about it.
Sometimes, I feel pity for the air/gas trapped inside a balloon; it would be very frustrating for the air/gas. They must be thinking, “Why are we here in this latex cage? :) We should be mingling with our fellow mates :) I hope you have enjoyed this anecdote, and of course, I am not against the balloons, and don’t quote me wrong, I am more concerned for the air/gas inside them. :)
