Balloon Expansion Lab Report

Yass Hatahet and Anuj Garlapati

Mr. Fong
SNC1D8 - B
Friday, February 5th, 2016

Table of Contents
Section

Page

Introduction..3
Brief Description....3
Question To Be Investigated......3
Relevant Control Variables3

Hypothesis....4
Materials...4
Experimental Procedure...5
Results......6
Table of Values..6
Quantitative and Qualitative Observations6
Graph.7

Conclusion....7
Evaluation.8
Line Error...8
Possible Reasoning of Errors.8
Error Improvements...8
Explanation of Improvements8
Answers to Questions.9

Introduction:
Brief Description:
The Balloon Expansion Lab is an experiment that mainly involves a rubber balloon labelled with
stickers as well as the participation of one individual to exhale air into it with the utilization of a
few other tools for assistance that will be mentioned under the Materials sector of the report. Our
task is to simply keep track of the measurements between the Home sticker and the rest of the
stickers which consists of B, C, D, E, and F respectively as we proceed to blow into the rubber
balloon for a total of five times obtaining five different results for each sticker excluding the
Home sticker. The purpose of this lab is to observe the changes that occur in the measurements
for each sticker to possibly identify a pattern. The pattern that has been identified will be
investigated and put in comparison with known science of the universe. This will allow us to get
a better understanding of the continuous expansion of the universe as well as the world we live
in.
Question To Be Investigated:
If I change the circumference of the rubber balloon, what will happen to the distance
between the stickers on the surface of the balloon?
In our case, our independent variable in the experiment happens to be the circumference of the
rubber balloon.
On the other hand, the dependant variable will be the distance between stickers on the surface
of the balloon.
Relevant Control Variables:
Maintaining continuous results will be controlled by using the same balloon because it will
assure us with reliable results whereas using a different balloon each time would offer very
different and drastic results each time due to many factors such as the elasticity of the balloon,
where the stickers will be placed each time, and so on.
Achieving clear and accurate measurement will be controlled by how the stickers on the balloon
are evenly spread out because it will offer us a better field of measuring and will prevent things
such as similar results which can cause confusion later on.
Achieving clear and accurate measurement will be controlled by the size of stickers that will be
used to label each point because measurements can be a few centimetres off due to stickers
having various sizes.

Hypothesis:
Scientific Prediction of Question:
If I change the circumference of the rubber balloon, I believe that the distance between the
stickers will increase. When expanding the balloon by exhaling air into the inside of it, the
surface itself expands and is stretched by the compacted gas particles. Thus, as a result, the
overall surface as well as the circumference of the balloon will increase. Whatever happens to be
on the surface will expand with the increase of the surface mass as the balloon gets stretched. In
addition, I believe that the further away a sticker is from Home, the faster and farther away it
will expand, exactly like how the universe is expanding at this very minute. When we look at the
balloon with the labelled stickers, it takes the same amount of air increase in the circumference
for all the sticker to expand and change positions. However, the more distant stickers will appear
to move faster. Lets examine this using real world science such as the knowledge about the
universes expansion. If we look at the galaxies from the Milky Ways perspective, the nearby
galaxies do not appear to move as fast as galaxies that are already far, thus implying the fact that
the further the galaxy, the faster it will expand away. The farther away the galaxy means that
there is more space for expansion thus there will be an increase in speed when compared to
closer galaxies. This analogy is perfectly applied using a balloon. From the Home stickers
perspective, or the Milky Way, stickers that are farther have more space to expand thus
increasing their velocity while doing so in comparison to closer stickers.

Materials:

List of required materials:

Balloon
Marker
Stickers
Measuring Tape
Binder Clip
Image of Materials:

Experimental Procedure:

5 Step Experiment Procedure:

Exhaling into the balloon to reach a circumference with a size of 58.2 cm
Using the binder clip, the bottom of the balloon was clipped to prevent air from escaping
Utilizing a marker, five dots were labelled on the balloon, including Home
For more accurate results, the five dots were covered with stickers
The distance between each sticker and Home was measured using a measuring tape then the
process was repeated four more times to achieve results
Images of Procedure:
Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Step 3:

Results:
Table of Values:
Circumference From A to B From A to C From A to D From A to E From A to F
58.2 cm

8.9 cm

12.2 cm

16.8 cm

14.4 cm

13.4 cm

61.6 cm

9.9 cm

13.8 cm

19.7 cm

17.6 cm

14.7 cm

65.2 cm

10.8 cm

14.7 cm

23.2 cm

21.5 cm

16.8 cm

69 cm

12.4 cm

16.8 cm

27.4 cm

25.7 cm

20.2 cm

73 cm

15.6 cm

20.2 cm

37.1 cm

33.4 cm

24.8 cm

Quantitative and Qualitative Observations:

Quantitative Observations
There was an increase of 14.8 cm between the first and the final circumference
There was an increase of 6.7 cm between the first and final distance of A to B
There was an increase of 8 cm between the first and final distance of A to C
There was an increase of 20.3 cm between the first and final distance of A to D
There was an increase of 19 cm between the first and final distance of A to E

There was an increase of 11.4 cm between the first and final distance of A to F
Qualitative Observations
The balloon increased in size as air was exhaled
The distance between the stickers increased
With the increase of the circumference, the distance between stickers increased as well

Graph:

Conclusion:
Conclusion of Experiment:
The data that was acquired throughout the experiment was reliable mainly because it
successfully followed a particular pattern that reflects scientific knowledge of the universe. In
our expanding universe, if we look at all the galaxies from our perspective, the farther they are,
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the faster they expand as they experience increased velocity in a larger amount of space. When
compared to our experiment, if we look at the line of the farthest sticker from A, the exact
terminology applies. Sticker D was the farthest and by looking at the graph above, it indeed
increased its velocity at the end when compared to the other stickers on the graph. However,
when we take a look at the nearest Sticker to Home, which happened to be B, the same pattern
applies. Since, it was the closest, the closer a sticker is the slower it will expand away from
Home. Thus, it was the slowest at expanding and still remains to be the closest. The data
simply suggests that the pattern can be applied to the Balloon universe model in the same sense.
Since, just like the balloon, the universe expands in the same way. The farther the galaxy, the
faster it will expand from our perspective. The closer the galaxy, the slower it will expand from
our perspective. Our perspective being the Milky Way of course. In conclusion, this experiment
did truly help me in solving the original problem which was If I change the circumference of
the rubber balloon, what will happen to the distance between the stickers on the surface of the
balloon? Now that the results of the experiment are clear and analyzable, we can now agree
upon an answer. The final answer that I was able to draw from this experiment was that as the
balloon's circumference increased, the distance between the stickers on the surface of the balloon
will increase as well. Depending on the perspective we choose, which in our case was sticker A
or Home, the farther any other sticker is, the faster it will expand away from Home
compared to closer stickers.

Evaluation:
Line Error
Fortunately, none of the lines in the graph above were drastically unexpected to the point where
our conclusion and results would be different, however there was one that seemed to have an odd
look to it. If we take a closer look at the red line, or Sticker C it seems that as it increases, there
was a slight bend to the line that has no impact on the results as it goes back on track and
increases at a correct rate.
Possible Reasoning of Errors
For a flaw in the line like such, it must have been due to the data in the table above. When
measuring the distance between Home and Sticker C between the second and third increase of
the circumference, there could have been the possibility of human error involved. For instance,
that would be not measuring accurately enough. Another possible error could be the quality of
the measuring tape used since some had unclear numbers on them.
Error Improvements
For small errors like the ones discussed above, there are simple way to prevent them. For
instance, inaccurate measuring of the distance between Home and Sticker C due to human
error can prevented by simply double-checking and measuring all the distances twice before

expanding the balloon again. As for the measuring tape, simply being more aware of the quality
of the tools we use such as making sure that the numbers are all clear can ensure more accurate
results.
Explanation of Improvements
Just like what I mentioned above double-checking results before expanding the balloon can
guarantee accurate results. Since, possible errors can occur while placing the measuring tape
properly on the balloon due to its spherical structure, double-checking ensures that the results are
correct or not. If not correct then it can be easily fixed before the balloon is expanded further. As
for the quality of the tools, using a better measuring tape that is intact can promise solid results
since we don't have to face issues such as having numbers worn off or having ripped and cut
measuring tapes.

Answers to Questions
1. When looking from the perspective of the Home sticker, all other stickers were expanding as
the circumference of the balloon increased. However, what was more interesting was that the
farther the sticker was from our perspective, the faster it seemed to expand away.
2. The galaxies near Home appeared to move slower as they were closer and the galaxies away
from Home appeared to move faster as they were farther away.
3. The Big Crunch is simply a theory of what might happen if the universe keeps expanding. It
states that all the galaxies in the universe will eventually reverse and recollapse possibly ending
with a black hole or another big bang. If we apply the same theory onto our Balloon model of the
universe the same would happen. If we keep expanding the size of the balloon by exhaling into
it, eventually the material that holds the compact gas particles wont be strong enough and will
potentially explode again separating the stickers away from each other at unimaginable distances
perhaps representing another big bang.

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