Year: 2012

Media: weather balloons, argon, helium, rope

Exhibited: ‘Tunnelling Art & Physics’, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, 2012, in collaboration with Rebecca Keoghan (UCD School of Physics)

Contained within the balloons are the different Nobel gases Argon and Helium. They are inert, stable and unreactive. The tendency of balloons to float or sink is dependent on the density of the gas inside the balloon. By taking into account other forces including lift, mass and gravitational forces, one can create an equilibrium state by applying a precise offset so that directional forces cancel and balance each other. This was achieved using Argon, a Nobel gas with a larger atomic mass than Helium.