Talk:Balloon

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Bouncing?

Cant a balloon be bounced on? Its it good to do? UB Blacephalon (talk) 11:15, 6 April 2021 (UTC)

Yes, a balloon can be bounced on. If you want to add a section about that, please provide reliable sources about it. And no, Wikipedia is not an advice column. Please see WP:NOTHOWTO. —Remember, I'murmate — I'ma editor2022 ^{(🗣️💬 |📖📚)} 23:01, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 27 September 2024

The inventor of the rubber balloon should be changed from Michael Faraday to T. Hancock (I assume but am not certain that this is the same Thomas Hancock mentioned later) or not include such information at all.

There is no evidence that Faraday invented the rubber balloon. The currently cited source is not credible. Some sources point to the 17 volume of the Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts published in 1924. Faraday is in this volume, as is a report of working with caoutchouc (rubber) to create elastic bags that are expanded with air, but this report has nothing to do with Faraday. These rudimentary balloons were not created by Michael Faraday but by a Mr. T. Hancock. Cyberllanowanderer (talk) 05:31, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

Adding on to this: in volume 21 of the same quarterly, Faraday does talk about working with Caoutchouc, but it was provided to him by the same T. Hancock referenced above.

If you would like to see the article in volume 17, look for the sixth article in the Miscellaneous Intelligence section. I have not found any earlier reference to rubber balloons in this quarterly. Cyberllanowanderer (talk) 05:34, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

From what I can see Faraday is listed as the inventor of the rubber balloon (1824) and Hancock as the producer of toy rubber balloons in 1825. In addition Hancock was a major pioneer in the rubber industry. I couldn't find much in the way of very good resources but there was one from Science World in Vancouver. I added it to the article. CambridgeBayWeather (solidly non-human), Uqaqtuq (talk), Huliva 21:33, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

I have found no reliable source that indicates Faraday was the inventor of the rubber balloon. The reference you added has no primary source citation. The only citations I have found online point to the Quarterly Journal of Science as the source for that claim, but, after examining that volume, I see that they are clearly mistaken! The 17th volume of the quarterly shows it was Hancock who expanded elastic bags with air and an examination of the language in that article suggests it was a novel experiment. It is not until the 21st volume that Faraday discusses experimenting with Caoutchouc, and he obtains it from Hancock!

This is a myth being circulated around the internet... Cyberllanowanderer (talk) 20:06, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

ChatGPT seems to think that The Life and Letters of Faraday mentions his invention of the balloon, but I quickly glanced through the source and saw no such claim -- although, there is mention of his working with Caoutchouc as recorded in the aforementioned Quarterly. Cyberllanowanderer (talk) 20:14, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

At this point we seem to need more input. CambridgeBayWeather (solidly non-human), Uqaqtuq (talk), Huliva 16:56, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

On a whim, I decided to search for "rubber balloon" in Google Ngrams. After viewing the results, I am convinced there is no reason for equivocation here. References to Faraday as the inventor of the rubber balloon should undoubtedly be removed, and T. Hancock should not take his place; although, I do not now know who should.

Look, for example, at this excerpt from "Pneumono-dynamics" by G. M. Garland, an assistant in physiology at Harvard, published in 1877:

I TOOK a red rubber balloon familiar to all as a child's toy and having attached it to a glass tube I suspended it in a pear shaped flask by passing the tube through a rubber stopper. The flask has a second opening at its inferior apex which is continued into a long nozzle B and guarded by a revolving valve C See Figure 14 On opening the valve and inflating the balloon all air

See here. Cyberllanowanderer (talk) 18:16, 7 October 2024 (UTC)