Dimensions Guide

The presence of balloons can make birthday parties more colorful and special. These flexible bags are usually filled with air, nitrous oxide, hydrogen or helium. Such bags are made from materials like polychloroprene, latex and rubber. Balloons are widely used as decorative ornaments because they are relatively low cost and low density. In addition to these basic facts, it is also interesting to find out the different birthday balloon sizes.

The Sizes of Birthday Balloons

Measuring a birthday balloon from top to bottom, the average length is 18 inches. However, this kind of balloon comes in various types of sizes. Other common sizes of this type of balloon include 21 inches, 30 inches, 40 inches and 50 inches. It really depends on the party organizer the size of balloon necessary to make the event livelier. Aside from these bigger sizes, smaller versions are also great for birthdays like the 5-inch, 10-inch and 12-inch balloons.

Additional Facts and Other Interesting Details

Aside from birthdays, balloons are also used for other purposes including military defense, medical treatment and meteorology. Some of them can also be used for transportation. An Italian physicist named Evangelista Torricelli came up first with the major principle behind how balloons work. In 1643, he proved in one of his experiments that air is in fact something rather than nothing.

A Brazilian priest named Bartolomeu de Gusmao invented the very first balloon. He held the very first exhibition in front of the public inside the Casa da India hall, which is located within the City of Lisbon in Portugal. In 1824, English physicist Michael Faraday invented the very first rubber balloon. During an experiment, he used hydrogen to inflate the rubber material, which resulted in the creation of the first rubber balloon.

Today, birthday parties seem incomplete without the presence of balloons as decorations. Natural latex is the primary material used to create party balloons. Meanwhile, the common materials use to fill them are water, helium and air.

The volume of balloons can be adjusted, thanks to the elasticity of rubber. Some of the basic materials used to inflate them include a hand pump, a manual inflator and the mouth.

Helium-filled balloons commonly retain their buoyancy for about a day only because the small pores of the latex material allow the escape of helium atoms. If you wish to retain the shape and size of your balloons for a longer period, it is better to fill them with air than helium. Besides birthdays, balloons are widely used for other purposes including protests, publicity and other forms of special celebrations.