# Am I Littering When I Release a Helium Balloon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-littering-when-i-release-a-helium-balloon/644866 "2012-12-22T20:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-littering-when-i-release-a-helium-balloon/644866/61 "2013-05-12T21:26:50Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > Back in Junior High School I filled a balloon with hydrogen gas generated in chemistry class and released it with a message. Never got a reply. The year before, some kid had received a reply all the way from Finland. (We were in North Central Wisconsin.) > > Twenty years I found an advertising message in a bottle while surf casting. Some rum company, IIRC. > > Getting back to the OP - yes, that’s littering, but of a very petty sort. Better than the damned kids who leave their beer party waste on my side lot. Years and years ago, my science classes used to release helium balloons with post cards attached - to explore wind currents and weather system movement. Findings: 1) When we got the cards back, and we got many over the years, the balloons were often shredded, leading us to think that something in the air degraded them. We never were able to pursue that issue, despite several good hypotheses. 2) We launched from the midwest and the farthest return came from Maryland. Most came from within a couple hundred miles. Hence, I’m skeptical of the Finland report. However, one spring break after several classes launched, one colleague of mine went to the Virgin Islands on vacation. She had brought a phony card with her and mailed it from there. Another colleague got the card and went nuts with excitement. We just about burst from holding in laughter. (I suppose we were littering in a sense. But I think that the educational and fun benefits outweighed the moral opprobrium against the activity.) ---
**Author:** ![tompitch4d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@tompitch4d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tompitch4d)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-littering-when-i-release-a-helium-balloon/644866/62 "2013-05-13T00:07:42Z")
> [@CC](#): > > Years and years ago, my science classes used to release helium balloons with post cards attached - to explore wind currents and weather system movement. Findings: 1) When we got the cards back, and we got many over the years, the balloons were often shredded, leading us to think that something in the air degraded them. We never were able to pursue that issue, despite several good hypotheses. 2) We launched from the midwest and the farthest return came from Maryland. Most came from within a couple hundred miles. Hence, I’m skeptical of the Finland report. However, one spring break after several classes launched, one colleague of mine went to the Virgin Islands on vacation. She had brought a phony card with her and mailed it from there. Another colleague got the card and went nuts with excitement. We just about burst from holding in laughter. > (I suppose we were littering in a sense. But I think that the educational and fun benefits outweighed the moral opprobrium against the activity.) Regarding the shredding. Please go to this collection of photographs and look past the first 30 or so images. The next 30 images are of shredded latex balloons found on a beach after washing ashore. If these shapes looks familiar, it could be that this shredding is a function of ascent to high altitude. Sunlight, temperature, and low pressure may be the cause of the distinct shredding observed. I can’t replicate this shredding by over inflating a latex balloon at sea level. > **[Photo Gallery - Balloons Blow](https://balloonsblow.org/photo-gallery/)** > > Most of these balloons are those falsely marketed by the balloon industry as "biodegradable latex." All photos were taken by Balloons Blow on Hutchinson Island, Florida, USA - unless otherwise noted. All photos with citations may be used for... ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-littering-when-i-release-a-helium-balloon/644866/63 "2013-05-13T00:48:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The world is full of things I don’t want to see. There are more serious problems than that to worry about. I agree with you that there are many more serious problems but that doesn’t mean we should allow littering or not worry about it. It is a simple thing to not do it. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-littering-when-i-release-a-helium-balloon/644866/64 "2013-05-13T02:43:55Z")
> [@tompitch4d](#): > > Regarding the shredding. Please go to this collection of photographs and look past the first 30 or so images. The next 30 images are of shredded latex balloons found on a beach after washing ashore. If these shapes looks familiar, it could be that this shredding is a function of ascent to high altitude. Sunlight, temperature, and low pressure may be the cause of the distinct shredding observed. I can’t replicate this shredding by over inflating a latex balloon at sea level. > > [Photo Gallery - Balloons Blow](http://balloonsblow.org/photo-gallery) Eew. I hate the pictures, but, yes, that’s very similar to the type of shredding we found. It looked nothing like what happens to balloons here on the ground, so we guessed that it might have had something to do with the nature of the atmosphere way up there, the sunlight, and/or the effects of bursting that high up. When I presented at a couple of conferences, someone suggested that the ozone layer may have been at work. I doubt that they would have risen anywhere near that, but, who knows? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-littering-when-i-release-a-helium-balloon/644866.md?page=3)