Helium filled balloon journeys to Nebraska

By Brittany M. Solo, On-line Forty-Niner

June 25,1998

Cal State Long Beach graduation '98 is a fading memory for most who participated in it, but not for two boys in Lodgepole, Nebraska.

Adam George and his cousin, Brandon, were playing on their grandparent's farm, located 1192 miles from campus, when they found a CSULB graduation balloon stuck in a tree.

Donna George, grandmother of the two boys, reported the balloon discovery to both her local newspaper, the Daily Sun, and to the Summer Forty-Niner.

This is not unique, but rare for a helium-filled mylar balloon to land miles away. In calm weather, a helium-filled mylar balloon released into the sky will touch land within 12 hours, said Alfred Leung, CSULB physics professor.

The small helium atoms slowly leak from the balloon causing the object to fall if it does not become tangled in a tree or power line first, Leung said.

The most probable explanation for the balloon lasting more than a week and traveling such a distance would be the wind factor, Leung said. The winds must have been fast and the number of obstructions minimal.

The University Bookstore, which sells the balloons, does attach weights to mylar balloons, said Charlotte Jones, softgoods buyer for the Bookstore. The weights are attached to aid in preventing the balloons from flying away and becoming tangled in power lines.