Einstein Iyengar- More Fun with Balloons
Eeshan took another inflated balloon. He held a sharp bamboo skewer and dipped it in cooking oil that was kept on the table and held it against one end of the balloon, on the bottom of the balloon. “What do you think will happen?” he asked everyone sitting in the audience.
Everyone screamed and said, “It will burst!”
Eeshan pierced the skewer on the balloon gently and the children were amazed to see that the balloon did not burst. Instead, it passed in easily and was completely inside the balloon!
Eeshan explained, “We all are made of smaller things. Hands, mouth, nose etc. So are balloons! If you see this balloon under a microscope, like this, it will show long strands or chains held together. They are called polymers.
The more loosely held these chains, the more I can stretch the balloon. At the bottom and the top, the polymers are tightly held and we can’t stretch it more. Did you notice that the middle of the balloon stretches more than either end?
The children said, “Yes.”
“So, the tightly held chains kept the air inside the balloon from coming out and hence the balloon didn’t burst. Now, if you have less space to move out through that door, you can’t all walk out at the same time can you?”
The children laughed and one of them said, “How do you know all of this?”
Eeshan, Martin and Nitin said together, “From school!”
The children said together, “We will also go to school. We won’t spend time begging!”
Nitin said, “Great! For this wise decision we will give you all a balloon each!”
The children applauded and lined up for balloons.
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