• Question: Would helium still go up if the gravity was stronger on this planet and why?

    Asked by Abi w to Daniel, Maggie, Ry, Scott on 15 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Ry Cutter

      Ry Cutter answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      Yes, in fact it’d probably go up faster!
      There is something called buoyancy force, you can feel it when you try and hold something that floats under water. This is a force that pushes upwards when something less dense is placed in a liquid (or gas) that has a higher density. The reason helium balloons float is because helium is less dense than air.
      If we increase gravity, the air density will also increase, but the density of Helium will stay about the same! This makes the buoyancy force stronger on the balloon which will make it fly up faster 😀
      Hope that helps!
      Ryan

    • Photo: Scott Melville

      Scott Melville answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      Good question! Ryan has it spot on, there’s no much to add 🙂
      It’s a bit like asking ‘would boats still float if gravity were stronger?’ Balloons float in the air for exactly the same reason that boats float on the sea. I reckon boats would still float – because although more gravity makes the boat heavier, it would also pull the whole sea down and make it thicker. So instead of a light boat resting on water, you’d have a heavy boat resting on something like thick custard 🙂

    • Photo: Maggie Lieu

      Maggie Lieu answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      Helium only goes up because it is lighter and less dense than all the other gasses in our atmosphere. If the gravity increased on Earth, it would affect all the gasses the same and Helium would still be the lightest so it would be the same

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