How many balloons does it take to lift a 47 pound kid?

You may be wondering how many party balloons it takes to lift a child off the ground...similar to what you may have seen on some TV shows. The parent very nicely purchases their child a string of balloons to please her. But to the amazement of the parent, the balloons end up carrying their child far far away. Yeah; only in the movies. But is it possible?

How much weight can a balloon lift? How many balloons would it take to carry a child away if the child weighed about 47 pounds? Well calculation says that a single party balloon can lift about 10 grams. To lift a child of 47 pounds, about 3500 Helium filled party balloons would need to be filled.

Kids don't try this at home as serious injury could occur!


With a bit a algebra we can use the below formulas to figure out the exact number of balloons used for lift.
First we know that one balloon can life ten grams, so...
grams X 0.0022 = pounds

10 x 0.0022 = .022 Lbs

So now we know that a balloon can lift about .022 Lbs. So for the balloons to lift a child weighing 47 pounds it will take about 3500 party balloons.