/oss/taxonomy/term/318/all en /oss/article/general-science/soaring-helium <p>You’re at a birthday party and the place is full of helium-filled balloons stuck to the ceiling. How are these balloons defying gravity? No magic involved! The law of buoyancy as first stated in the third century BC by Archimedes is at work: Any object, totally or partially immersed in a fluid or liquid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. Helium is lighter than air, so a balloon filled with this gas weighs less than the air it displaces and will therefore be subjected to an upward force.</p> Wed, 14 Oct 2020 15:28:19 +0000 Caitlin Bard, OSS Intern 8445 at /oss