Acoustical characterization of exploding hydrogen-oxygen balloons

Abstract

Exploding hydrogen-oxygen balloons are popular chemistry demonstrations. Although initial research experimentally quantified potential hearing risk via analysis of peak levels [K. L. Gee et al., J. Chem. Educ. 87, 1039–1044 (2010)], further waveform and spectral analyses have been conducted to more fully characterize these impulsive noise sources. While hydrogen-only balloons produce inconsistent reactions and relatively low, variable levels, stoichiometrically mixed hydrogen-oxygen balloons produce consistent high-amplitude noise waveforms. Preliminary consideration is also given to the potential use of these exploding balloons in architectural acoustics applications.