T1B

OK, I'll bite. Someone filled one with helium?

Wolfman wrote:OK, I'll bite. Someone filled one with helium?

Nope. That's what happens when a bounce house gets hit by a gust of wind and the tie downs don't hold.

Just saw that on syracuse.com. Kids were lucky they fell out early. Amazing.

I love the fact this has been picked up by stations across the country and uninformed reporters or anchors are trying to explain how the wind got this house so far up in the air.




So far all have focused on the wind somehow causing lift. No one has said boo about the bigger issue of warm air rising. The temp there yesterday was in the upper 50s to low 60s. There was also very little cloud cover. So the sun was beating on this house and warming the air contained within it. As that air grew warmer it became lighter than the air just outside of the house and wanted to lift said house. The wind was likely just the force necessary to overcome the tie down stakes.

Doesn't a bounce house have ambiant air being pushed into it to keep it inflated? They really heat up that much?

Whole lot of factors at play here, some we don't know.

Some bounce houses have fans that are attached and running non stop. These types also have an area of mess or one way valves that regulate the pressure in the house. If this house didn't have the pressure regulation then the temp inside could easily climb by 20 or 30 degrees. This same type though would pretty quickly deflate once removed from the fan feeding it more air. Each passing second would see the deflating house get heavier relative to the surrounding air.

Other bounce houses are sealed once inflated and the internal air pressure fluctuates as kids start jumping or the internal temp rises. Since these are sealed, they aren't as quick to return to the ground once they get airborne.

Also, as each kid fell out the weight of the bounce house decreased rapidly. Kinda like a hot air balloon releasing ballast.