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How To Launch Balloons !

This is your complete "how-to" guide to launching balloons! Listed on the menu below are the basic materials needed. Click on any button for more information.


Putting it all Together

The first thing to do after you have all the necessary materials is to create the information card you want to launch with your balloons. We print our cards on both sides; one side with a greeting, the other side is for the person who finds the card to enter the information of where the card was found, time, etc. We use a font size of "10" and small margins so everything will fit on the card. The following is the greeting we used on our cards before we had this web-site:

Hello, You have found a helium filled balloon sent aloft by two adventurous "young at heart" friends... We have entered this activity as a new hobby to see where the winds and atmosphere take our soaring greetings... If you find this wind carried message, we would sincerely appreciate your help. Please complete the information section of the card on the reverse side and mail it to us in the enclosed "Addressed Stamped Envelope." Without your help, we will never know how far our efforts have traveled!!!! Please help us enjoy our new found hobby... We would sincerely appreciate your time and effort to return our message... Our main goal is to simply track our balloons' flight and distance. Thank you for your cooperation, Jim & Tyler

E-mail - kman@otherside.com and tyler200@hotmail.com

After we created this web-site we have tried to contact each person who returned a card to ask for their permission to display their name, city, and E-mail address on our web-site. We now use a revised greeting card that will ask for the person's permission to display the information about them. The following is our revised card:

Revised Greeting

Here is an example of the information section on our cards:

Information Card

When printing our cards, we use Microsoft Word and a HP Deskjet 820Cse Printer. Some printers can't print on a card that is 3" x 5" (7.6 x 12.7 cm), so you will have to do what works best for you. Some index cards have a harder, glossier finish and take longer to dry after you print them, so you might want to wait before you touch them.

After printing your cards, the only other thing to do is put everything together. When you put your card in the sandwich bag be sure to have the greeting visible to the outside without opening it.

There are two (2) different ways we have taped the card package to the string:

HorizontalHorizontal VerticalVertical

We don't know if either way is better, but if you can think of any reason for one or the other, please let us know

If you are using kite sting, narrow ribbon, or any other type of line or cord that could slip through the tape, remember to tie a knot at the end of it to act as a security stop


That’s all you need to do to. Just put your information card and envelope in a sandwich bag, tape the string to the card package and fill your balloon with helium and tie the string above the knot in the balloon with a double knot!

Basically, each balloon you launch costs you approx. 50¢

Two things that are not mentioned above are the need for a compass and binoculars. If you’re wanting to really track the flight of your balloons it’s important to have a compass or be very familiar with the location where you are launching from. We also use binoculars to track their direction for a longer time and to just watch them as they fly away.

The 16 Directions


HI-FLOAT

A product called HI-FLOAT makes latex balloons hold their helium about 5 times longer. We use SUPER HI-FLOAT which holds helium about 10 times longer. HI-FLOAT is a gel that can be put inside latex balloons that coats and hardens to clog the pores of the latex balloons. This helps keep the helium from leaking out of the pores as quickly, and gives the balloons a longer flying time. We have used this many times to coat the inside of our balloons. On Our Flight Distance Information we have indicated when we have used HI-FLOAT by a, "HF". A quart of SUPER HI-FLOAT costs about $13.00 at novelty and/or party shops. Here is the chart in the HI-FLOAT Book:

HI-FLOAT Chart

We conducted our own time test to see how long two helium filled 9" (22.86 Cm) latex balloons one with and one without SUPER HI-FLOAT would stay up. We placed the two test balloons in the basement away from any disturbance and outside influence. One white balloon without SUPER HI-FLOAT and one blue balloon with SUPER HI-FLOAT. We left them to float against the ceiling. We also inflated a 16" (40.64 Cm) orange balloon on a string outside that had been treated with SUPER HI-FLOAT as another test sample.

We started our float test at about 4:00 in the afternoon. The next morning it had gotten much colder, and the Orange 16" (40.64 Cm) balloon outside with SUPER HI-FLOAT was floating upside down. We assumed that the harden HI-FLOAT made the orange balloon top-heavy. We are not sure what effect the cold air had with the HI-FLOAT. Checking on the other two test samples we found the White balloon without HI-FLOAT was already on the floor. The Blue balloon was still aloft.

The next time we checked the test balloons was about 3 o'clock that afternoon and the Orange balloon had popped. We think cats had something to do with it.

It wasn't till 4 days later that the blue balloon with HI-FLOAT finally lost its helium and came down.

Be careful not to over inflate your balloon especially when using HI-FLOAT. Several times our balloons have burst with HI-FLOAT in them, causing us to get "slimed" !


Glow-Sticks And Other Ideas

We have tried a number of ways to gain greater visibility when the balloons are in flight. Once, we put a piece of aluminum foil in the envelope. On another occasion we treated the string with glow-in-the-dark paint.

Probably the most interesting thing we have done so far is attach a 6" (15.24 Cm) green glow stick to the bottom of the card one night so we could see it glow as it flew off into the dark. We could still see it glow from very far away. Because we had the glow-stick hanging below the balloons they were hitting each other in flight. We think this bumping might have caused one of the balloons to burst. From a distance it appeared that the balloon was falling. When we use a glow-stick again we will probably use a 1.5" (3.81 Cm) glow-stick and put it inside a white or clear balloon to get added visual effect.

We have also launched a floppy disk. We created and found screensavers, cursors, sounds, and pictures and loaded them all on a 3 1/2 floppy disk.

We are working on a sound device for more noticablity. The device inside a musical greeting card or box is very light weight. After the tab is removed, the music will play constently for a few days. Musical greeting cards and boxes can cost up to $6.

A good enviroment-friendly idea is to insert some kind of flower or tree seed inside the balloon. When the balloon bursts, the seed will hopefully land and be planted in the ground.

If you have space left on your balloon information cards, it would be nice to include a positive public message(ex. "Stay in School!" or "Please put Litter in its place!" or "Say NO to Drugs!".

Click Here To Order Glow-Sticks


Measuring Wind Speed

It can be very difficult to judge wind speed. Before our 61st balloon we didn't have any consistent way of determining the wind speed. We located this wind scale (The Beaufort Scale) in the book, "Simple Weather Experiments with Everyday Materials" by Muriel Mandell.

The Beaufort scale was orignally designed by Francis Beanufort, a Britsh admiral, in the early 1800s to help guide ships. It calculated wind speed at sea, but it has since been adapted for use on land. The Weather Bureau, through it uses an anemometer to measure wind speed, still reports winds to us using the Beaufort Scale. It gives you a great way to judge the speed of wind--anywhere, anytime--by watching the things that the wind moves. Memorize it and you'll be able to amaze people with your accurate readings.

Beaufort Scale

Beaufort Scale
If you want to be able to calculate the exact wind speed. You might consider purchasing a pocket wind meter. The cost is $90. We have thought about purchasing one of these. Click Here to to learn how to build your own wind speed/direction devices. If you want to plan your launches around windy days, click here for maps of daily surface winds and jet streams.

We believe the best time of the day to launch is at sunrise. The Sun warms the helium and expands the balloon which causes it to gain greater altitude. Just remember not to over fill your balloons if launching at sunrise. If you launch in the morning, the balloon has the entire day to warm up and rise up in atmosphere. At night, the balloon can cool and lose attitude. To find the exact time that the sun will rise in your area, click here.


The two most important elements of Balloon Launching are: distance, and visibility. You want to get the most distance of flight, and you want the returnee to easily see and find the card. If you have comments or suggusts for balloon launching, please e-mail me
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