Will it Pop?

By: Katey Arbogast B1

Question

How can an object pass through a balloon

without popping it?

Hypothesis

My hypothesis is that a skewer will pass through

a balloon with oil and soap but not plain.

Materials

• Balloons• Skewer• Oil• Dishsoap• Markers• Pencils• Paper

Science Safety

1. Always wear goggles: I wore goggles so if the balloon popped my eyes were protected. Also I needed to protect my eyes from sharp objects.

2. Never do an experiment without permission: I got permission from my parents so they knew what I was doing and why. They also supervised me with the sharp objects so I wouldn’t hurt myself.

Procedure1. Blow up your latex balloon to a point just short of being

full--so that it’s still a little squishy. Tie a knot.2. Now take a skewer and try to stick it in the balloon.

What happens?3. Now take a skewer and dip the sharp point into the soap

or vegetable oil so that the top 1” or so is well soaked.4. Using a twisting motion as you go, poke the skewer into

the dark , thicker latex near where you tied the balloon off. Drive the skewer all the way through to the dark latex on the far side. Still twisting, push the skewer through the far side of the balloon.

VariablesIndependent:• Different substance on

the skewer (plain, dish soap, oil)

Control:• Same color of balloon• Same kind of skewer• Area of piercing• Same size of balloon

with air

DataPlain With dish

soapWith Oil

Try 1 popped Deflated No pop

Try 2 popped No pop No pop

Try 3 popped No pop No pop

Conclusion• In conclusion, my hypothesis stated that a skewer would pass

through a balloon with oil and soap but not plain. My hypothesis was correct. According to the data when I tried to stick a skewer in the balloon it never went through without deflating the balloon as to when I stuck a skewer into the oil and put it into the balloon it didn’t deflate at all. The skewer in the dishsoap deflated just a little less than the plain skewer but more than the oil. Possible problems that may have occurred with this lab include where we inserted the skewer. A solution may be to measure how far out to insert the skewer. Another problem may have ben the amount of air in the balloon. A solution to this problem would be to measure the length of each balloon when blown up to try to make them close to the same size.

I did it… A balloon kabob!