Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Related Rates

Related Rates

When two or more physical quantities are linked by a single relationship, a change in one variable necessarily affects the others. This interdependence forms the basis of related rates analysis, which examines how different quantities change with respect to time. A classic physical example is an expanding balloon, where the size of the balloon changes continuously as air is added.For a hot air balloon, the inflated envelope is commonly idealized as a perfect sphere to simplify mathematical...

Excess Pressure Inside a Drop and a Bubble

Excess Pressure Inside a Drop and a Bubble

The shape of a small drop of liquid can be considered spherical, neglecting the effect of gravity. This drop can further be considered as two equal hemispherical drops put together due to surface tension. The forces acting on the spherical drop are due to the pressure of the liquid inside the drop, the pressure due to air outside the drop, and the force due to the surface tension acting on the two hemispherical drops.

Shock Waves

Shock Waves

While deriving the Doppler formula for the observed frequency of a sound wave, it is assumed that the speed of sound in the medium is greater than the source's speed through it. When this condition is breached, a shock wave occurs.
When the source's speed approaches the speed of sound, constructive interference between successive wavefronts emitted by the source occurs immediately behind it. Initially, scientists believed that this constructive interference would result in such high pressures...

Constant Volume Calorimetry

Constant Volume Calorimetry

Calorimeters are useful to determine the heat released or absorbed by a chemical reaction. Coffee cup calorimeters are designed to operate at constant (atmospheric) pressure and are convenient to measure heat flow (or enthalpy change) accompanying processes that occur in solution at constant pressure. A different type of calorimeter that operates at constant volume, colloquially known as a bomb calorimeter, is used to measure the energy produced by reactions that yield large amounts of heat and...

Types of Damping

Types of Damping

If the amount of damping in a system is gradually increased, the period and frequency start to become affected because damping opposes, and hence slows, the back and forth motion (the net force is smaller in both directions). If there is a very large amount of damping, the system does not even oscillate; instead, it slowly moves toward equilibrium. In brief, an overdamped system moves slowly towards equilibrium, whereas an underdamped system moves quickly to equilibrium but will oscillate about...

Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion

Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion

Although gaseous molecules travel at tremendous speeds (hundreds of meters per second), they collide with other gaseous molecules and travel in many different directions before reaching the desired target. At room temperature, a gaseous molecule will experience billions of collisions per second. The mean free path is the average distance a molecule travels between collisions. The mean free path increases with decreasing pressure; in general, the mean free path for a gaseous molecule will be...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

A geospatial model of global ambient sound levelsa).

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2026

Same author

Falcon 9 ascent sonic boom measurements in Ventura County, California.

JASA express letters·2026

Same author

Sound power from a collection of monopoles with arbitrary coherence: Theory and application to aeroacoustic noise sources.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2026

Same author

Similarity spectra analysis of a lab-scale afterburning jet noise rig.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2025

Same author

Plume-generated near-field acoustics during liftoff of Artemis I.

JASA express letters·2025

Same author

Angle-of-arrival fluctuations in a turbulent atmosphere.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 24, 2026

Induction of Microstreaming by Nonspherical Bubble Oscillations in an Acoustic Levitation System

Induction of Microstreaming by Nonspherical Bubble Oscillations in an Acoustic Levitation System

Published on: May 9, 2021

Acoustical characterization of exploding hydrogen-oxygen balloons.

Julia A Vernon¹, Kent L Gee, Jeffrey H Macedone

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, N283 ESC, Provo, Utah 84602, USA. julia.vernon@yahoo.com

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

|March 20, 2012

Summary

Exploding hydrogen-oxygen balloons create high-amplitude impulsive noise, posing potential hearing risks. Further analysis is needed to fully characterize these sound sources for safety and acoustic applications.

More Related Videos

Multi-timescale Microscopy Methods for the Characterization of Fluorescently-labeled Microbubbles for Ultrasound-Triggered Drug Release

Multi-timescale Microscopy Methods for the Characterization of Fluorescently-labeled Microbubbles for Ultrasound-Triggered Drug Release

Published on: June 12, 2021

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 24, 2026

Induction of Microstreaming by Nonspherical Bubble Oscillations in an Acoustic Levitation System

Induction of Microstreaming by Nonspherical Bubble Oscillations in an Acoustic Levitation System

Published on: May 9, 2021

Multi-timescale Microscopy Methods for the Characterization of Fluorescently-labeled Microbubbles for Ultrasound-Triggered Drug Release

Multi-timescale Microscopy Methods for the Characterization of Fluorescently-labeled Microbubbles for Ultrasound-Triggered Drug Release

Published on: June 12, 2021

Area of Science:

Chemistry
Acoustics
Physics

Background:

Exploding hydrogen-oxygen balloons are common chemistry demonstrations.
Previous research assessed hearing risk based on peak sound levels.
Impulsive noise sources require detailed waveform and spectral analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

To characterize the impulsive noise produced by exploding hydrogen-oxygen balloons.
To analyze the waveform and spectral properties of the noise.
To evaluate potential applications in architectural acoustics.

Main Methods:

Experimental quantification of sound levels.
Waveform analysis of impulsive noise.
Spectral analysis of noise sources.

Main Results:

Stoichiometrically mixed hydrogen-oxygen balloons produce consistent, high-amplitude noise.
Hydrogen-only balloons yield inconsistent reactions and lower sound levels.
Detailed acoustic properties of these explosions were characterized.

Conclusions:

Exploding hydrogen-oxygen balloons are significant impulsive noise sources.
The consistent high-amplitude noise warrants further investigation for safety and potential acoustic uses.
Further research could explore architectural acoustics applications.