The case of the oscillating party balloon: A simple toy experiment requiring a not-so-simple interpretation

The intriguing midair oscillations of a party balloon, which occur once its buoyancy is no longer capable of keeping it against the ceiling, is shown to require a rather sophisticated explanation in terms of variable-mass dynamics. The ubiquity of this phenomenon, the accessibility of its actual observation, and the subtlety of its analytic description provide a good opportunity for an interesting zero-cost classroom demonstration. (C) 2007 American Association of Physics Teachers.