Walking on Water

How Many Balloons Would You Need?

This postcard meme showed up on social media the other day as an example of how those crazy Victorians were putting way too much faith in the future than we’ve been able to provide.

First, the card appears, what, German? Second, they actually had balloons back then so it seems odd that they would be predicting THAT in a hundred years, the year 2000. Third, a horse? Anyway, the whole premise is suspect and I haven’t been able to find any confirmation that this postcard is authentic.

But no matter, because it got me thinking about that Pixar movie, you know the one, about the old guy who lifts up his house on balloons.

And I said to myself, “Self, is that even possible? To walk across a lake carried by helium balloons?”

So I looked it up.

As it turns out, there’s a calculator for just that! It’s called the Omni Calculator and it can measure exactly how much helium and how many balloons you’d need, based on your weight, to lift you.

Here's the ink: Omni Calculator

So, for me, at about 200 pounds, with standard 11 inch balloons, I would require 84,665 liters of gas and 7,414 balloons to get me air-born. So… a lot! By the way, if I used jumbo 98 inch balloons, all it would take would be ten!

Anyway, food for thought.

And as for those Victorians, assuming that postcard is indeed authentic, they kind of had it right. I mean not a horse, but we CAN walk on a lake using a balloon.

Kind of. Right?