Have you ever noticed that balloons blown up by mouth don't float in the air, while balloons filled with helium gas do float? To understand this question, let's look at why things float. A person ...

A: “An object will float in water or in air because the object is lighter than the air or the water it displaces,” notes MU physics Professor Karen King. All forms of matter such as gases, liquids and ...

My friend Jenny Lawson—aka The Bloggess—is weird. This isn’t casting any aspersions! She would be the first one to admit it. In fact, she does, constantly, on her blog. If you read her book, Let’s ...

Helium balloons are a quintessential party favor, a fixture of any birthday, wedding or anniversary party. But few consumers seem to know that helium is a limited resource — and one which physics ...

In announcing earlier this month that 45 Party City stores will close, CEO James M. Harrison also remarked on the company’s financial shortfalls in balloon sales, blaming the ongoing helium shortage.