How to Poke a Hole in a Balloon Without Popping It

It’s pretty easy to pierce a balloon without popping it. This makes for a fun learning activity for kids or a pretty lame party trick. Read on to learn the secret and the science behind it.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Balloon
• Clear adhesive tape
• Pin or needle

1. Blow up the balloon, but not to its limit. Just blow it up about halfway and tie it off.

2. Take a small piece of adhesive tape and put it on the very top of the balloon, where you should see a darker circle. You’ll want to pierce the balloon as close to the center of this circle as possible.

3. Take your pin and slowly push it through the tape and into the balloon, right in the middle of the dark area. The balloon should not pop. If you remove the pin, the balloon will deflate very slowly.

Tips & Warnings

• This works because the strands of polymers that make up the balloon are more relaxed and closely bunched on the ends of the balloon, where the color is darkest. Pushing a pin through in these areas won’t necessarily pop the balloon because the polymer strands have enough room and flexibility to move to either side of the point of the needle. If you attempt this trick on the side of the balloon, where the strands are stretched tightly and have no room for flexibility, the balloon will probably pop.