Naked Science Forum

General Science => General Science => Topic started by: thedoc on 22/11/2016 09:53:02

Title: Are Mylar balloons and foil balloons the same?
Post by: thedoc on 22/11/2016 09:53:02
Rosalyn asked the Naked Scientists:
   Are Mylar balloons and foil balloons the same?
What do you think?
Title: Re: Are Mylar balloons and foil balloons the same?
Post by: evan_au on 22/11/2016 17:22:57
Those shiny helium balloons consist of a layer of plastic (the Mylar), coated with a very thin layer of Aluminium/Aluminum (the foil). So Mylar and foil are different parts of the same material.

Balloons are often decorated with some painted greeting (eg Happy Birthday) or pattern (eg Frozen). A similar material and process is often used for confectionary wrappers.

Unlike rubber balloons, the Mylar is pre-stretched, and is not very elastic. This allows the balloon to be filled at a lower pressure, which means it takes longer for the helium to leak out.
The metallic layer is visually attractive, and significantly reduces the loss of the helium through the plastic. The metallic coating is very thin, and much lighter than a balloon made entirely of aluminium foil, so it floats much better.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallised_film
Title: Re: Are Mylar balloons and foil balloons the same?
Post by: sudjoy on 18/03/2020 02:43:13
mylar balloons and foil balloons are completely different the real mylar balloon are made by a nylon like balloons while foil balloons has a aluminum on it the difference is foil balloon has a metal on it which is aluminum while mylar is completely plastic got the info from commercial ad removed they showed me the difference if you crease the foil balloons there are small particles coming from foil balloons that give it shine coat and that's aluminum
Title: Re: Are Mylar balloons and foil balloons the same?
Post by: caeltmp on 23/07/2020 16:06:23
I feel, genuine Mylar balloons are made from transparent plastic that contains zero metal, whereas foil balloons do contain metal and have a shiny exterior appearance.

Regards,
Kevin J. Hodge
Title: Re: Are Mylar balloons and foil balloons the same?
Post by: Petrochemicals on 23/07/2020 21:43:55




Unlike rubber balloons, the Mylar is pre-stretched, and is not very elastic. This allows the balloon to be filled at a lower pressure, which means it takes longer for the helium to leak out.

Filled at a lower pressure but surely once inflated the same equilibrium between interior and exterior is achieved. The mylar does go pop very easy.
Title: Are you 18? Come in and don't be shy!
Post by: AllenLig on 12/08/2020 11:36:32
Hurry up to look into spammysite.con you will find a lot of interesting things
Title: Re: Are Mylar balloons and foil balloons the same?
Post by: Colin2B on 12/08/2020 11:43:55
Hurry up to look into spammysite.con you will find a lot of interesting things
There are lots of interesting things on this site as well, but we don’t try to spam people.
Bye
Title: Re: Are Mylar balloons and foil balloons the same?
Post by: Le1o on 28/08/2020 10:34:06
Foil is used to make the Mylar balloons shiny on the surface. Whereas, they are made up of plastic.
Title: Re: Are Mylar balloons and foil balloons the same?
Post by: Spam5-160920 on 16/09/2020 15:33:35
Mini balloons, latex and foil, can only be filled with air. They are too teeny tiny to take enough helium to make them float. They are an air only situation.