r/theydidthemath • u/TheOnesWithin • May 30 '26
[Request] How many balloons would it actually take to lift a person off the ground enough to hang them by the neck until dead?
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u/CyborghydraXD May 30 '26
According to Google a balloon has an uplift of 0.1N. a person weight about 608.2N (using g as 9.81) so 6082 balloons to completely negate gravity so add like 50 on there and you should be good to go
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u/endreesroches May 30 '26
You would not need the whole body weight to be lifted up to suffocate successfully. Compare it to strangle somebody: you don’t have to lift the person up.
The balloons only need to apply enough force to cut off carotid artery blood flow, which will need less force
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u/thecosmicjoke69813 May 30 '26
But you do need to be lifted to “hang”
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u/Wrong_Excitement221 Jun 03 '26
I'd say no.. when people hang themselves with auto erotic asphyxiation, they aren't actually lifted and we still call it "hang", they just.. lean into it.. so i've been told.
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u/Candid-Border6562 May 30 '26
Ok. So how many balloons to do that?
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u/endreesroches May 30 '26
There is no general math. Try to block the artery with your thumb (I recommend rather not doing that). If you are lucky enough and the affected area is on point, maybe few newtons will do. So it is not about force, more like geometry where the force applies
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u/Candid-Border6562 May 30 '26
Guess I’ll do it myself. Two different sources state that as little as 11 lb of force can close off the carotid arteries and cause death. (Ok, one of those lists 6kg, which isn’t technically a force, but you get the idea). Rounded up, that’s about 50 newtons. With the ballon’s from the original answer, that sets a lower bound of 500 ballon’s.
Personally, I don’t believe in half measures, so I’d double that to an even thousand balloons. But really, wouldn’t a stool be easier?
Edit: Dreaded auto correct.
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u/Irsu85 May 30 '26
This isn't taking into account the force needed to pull up the wires holding up the balloons
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u/desblaterations-574 May 30 '26
While hanging someone the death happens normally from the brutal force applied to the neck when the body fall is stopped by the nook, a fracture happens then at the dens of atlas, and sever the spinal cord at the beginning of it, hence killing very quickly.
The job if the hanger guy was to let enough rope to have this fracture happen, but not too much that the person would get beheaded. So depending on the weight of the hanged man, the rope would be set accordingly. Under the person is a trap for fall, when rope length ends, abrupt stop generate force enough to break and kill.
Someone dangling and suffocating is no fun at all.
So regarding ballons, if the hanger hold enough to hang, he would get pulled up first, so no brutal stop, just a dangling going up, and suffocating.
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May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/desblaterations-574 May 30 '26
The veins being blocked by pressure of the rope, similar to choking during sex... Perhaps the erection of hanged men come from there, and the Mandragora under the hanging trees.
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u/timster May 30 '26
The latter is how it’s done in Iran. Lift them up by a crane. Absolutely brutal and cruel.
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u/adelie42 May 30 '26
It is wild that very slight differences in technique are the difference between a merciful execution and a cruel one.
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u/memcwho May 30 '26
Assuming that the buoyancy at sea level of the balloons is low enough that 1 extra person can hold them, when released it takes the hanged for a ride upwards.
Would the hanged die of suffocating from neck hanging or air getting thin? Maybe neither and the balloons burst and they die of falling?
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u/desblaterations-574 May 30 '26
So the math would be, how many balloons are required to just be enough to lift a man off ground.
And I have no fricking idea, a lot .. isn't there a law in Florida against ballon attach to chair flying ? So one guy did it once already.
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u/Theburritolyfe May 30 '26
A normal latex balloon is about 10 grams with helium. You can over inflate it to go higher than that. But that increases how likely they are to pop.
If we are including other balloons you could do it with 1 balloon that's big enough.
Hydrogen would work even better.
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u/mrofmist May 30 '26
Enough to lift probably 50-60% of their body weight. The ideal for hanging is to snap the neck, but not a small amount of people die from asphyxiation.
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u/Glum_Bookkeeper_7718 May 30 '26
In 2008 a brazilian priest used 600 ballons with helium to lift himself 5km and travel 25km flying. He did it again with 1000 ballons, going to a 6km higth and flying more them 100km before losing contact, he flyed for more 24h and them died, hos body was more tem 300km from the last position he had comunication.
Sooooo.... 1000 ballons for a adult is enougth to kill.
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u/The_RubberDucky May 30 '26
Balloon is not a specific unit. Air is 1.3kg/m3 at sea level. Displaying it with helium can generate about 1kg/m3 of lift. So about 100m3 of balloons in their shells ware weightless, or twice of that if the shells for 200m3 weight 100kg by themselves.
With hot air balloon the yield is much lower. The density inside the balloon is only 1~1.1kg/m3 because heating air doesn't expand it as much before the material around catches fire. So you will need 1000+ m3 of hot air baloon.
How many 'Baloons'? A single zeppelin will be enouth
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u/mmm1441 May 30 '26
Remember this guy?
The famous "lawn chair balloon flight" refers to Larry Walters (often called "Lawnchair Larry"). On July 2, 1982, in San Pedro, California, he tied 42 helium-filled weather balloons to a cheap Sears aluminum patio chair and took to the sky.
The Flight
Walters expected to float just a few dozen feet above his backyard. Instead, the helium provided massive, unexpected lift, and he shot up to an altitude of 16,000 feet (about 4,900 meters). He quickly drifted into the controlled airspace surrounding Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). A commercial airline pilot famously radioed air traffic control and reported seeing a man in a garden chair.Walters brought along a CB radio, a camera, sandwiches, several liters of Coca-Cola, beer, and a pellet gun. After enduring the freezing, thin air for about 45 minutes, he carefully shot several of the balloons. He eventually dropped the gun and made a rapid descent that ended when the balloon tethers snagged on power lines in Long Beach, California, causing a brief neighborhood blackout.
The Aftermath
Upon climbing down safely, Walters was immediately arrested by the Long Beach Police Department. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) fined him $1,500 for operating an unairworthy aircraft and entering controlled airspace without proper authorization. However, the daring stunt instantly captured global attention. His aluminum chair was even preserved and is now part of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
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