Revue internationale de santé et de sécurité publiques

Hydrogen Balloons: Bright Colors but Hidden Fire Hazard

Abstract

Al-Dahhan WH and Yousif E

A party isn’t really a party without balloons. Balloons aren’t just for birthday parties, people used a plenty of ways to incorporate them into wedding decor, New Year's fest and graduation parties. Due to Archimedes' law, a gas for lifting is required to create buoyancy because density is lower than that of air. Hydrogen is the lightest gas (less dense than air about 14 times), for this reason it is the most appropriate lifting gas. However, hydrogen has several disadvantages, the most important that the gas is flammable. Helium consider as the second lightest gas, so, it is an attractive gas. A major advantage is that the gas is nonflammable, but it is expensive. Ignorance or sometimes disregard for safety rules, some simple craftsmen produce hydrogen from aluminum cans for soft drinks believing that it is helium. They fill the balloons with the produced gas which can cause an explosion if caught fire. The biggest danger is that people produce hydrogen gas in this way at homes. In January 2018 and during one of the celebrations, eleven university students were burned as a result of filling of balloons with hydrogen.