Short Stuff: Weather Balloons | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's. sitting in for Dave and this is a good. oldfashioned straight ahead stuff you. should know short stuff about something. kind of sciency but also just really. interesting in a bunch of different. ways. So let's go. So, maybe you've. walked outside of your house or maybe. you're on a hike through the woods in. the wilderness nearby and you've come. across this weird synthetic uh burst.

rubber balloon laying on the ground. >> Are you talking to me? >> Yes, you. >> Oh, well, no, I haven't. >> All right, that settles that. >> Okay, >> but let's say you had. There's a very. good chance that could be a weather. balloon. >> Yeah, I wish I had. I I would love to. have an anecdote about that, but I. don't. >> Are you actually Are you talking to me? >> Yeah, Chuck, get this. >> I've never actually seen a weather. balloon in person. >> Uh, that's what we're talking about,

weather balloons. And I I'm surprised we. haven't covered this. These are these. are kind of cool and kind of a perfect. short step, I think. >> Right. So, um, let's talk about these. things because they're the workhorse of. weather and they really are just a. couple of, um, couple of components, like a handful of components that gets. launched. Um, well, I guess let's talk. about the components. The big one is the. balloon, but the balloon is really just. kind of the dumbest part of the whole. thing because the balloon is there to. carry a box called a radio sand or radio.

uh, in French. Yeah, it. >> it's about the size of a shoe box. It. doesn't say what size shoe box. I mean, like, you know, Gary Coleman's shoe box. and Shaquille O'Neal's shoe boxes were. different size, so they didn't get. specific enough for for my tastes. >> I knew you're Shaquille O'Neal, by the. way. >> He has big feet, man. >> Yeah, he does. Um, and these shoe boxes, whichever size they are, they have got. three really rudimentary crude. atmospheric instruments. But that's, it.

turns out, all you really need for these. things. >> That's right. Uh, they have something. called a thermostat. That is a little. ceramic metal rod and it is a. thermometer. Uh, they have a hydra. Is. that how you pronounce that? >> Hyster. Yeah. >> All right. One of the two. Soft G or. hard G? We're not sure. Uh that is a. humidity sensor. Um it's got a a slide. with a film of lithium chloride on it. and it reads humidity through electrical.

resistance. Yeah. What else you got? >> The anoid barometer. Anoid barometer. >> Uhhuh. >> So it measures air pressure because. there's like a trigger that changes as. the air pressure around it changes and. it's allowed to kind of expand. And. that's a big part of um weather balloons. as a as a concept. The the fact that the. air pressure way up high where they go. and they go really high changes has is. has kind of worked into the design of.

how these things work. >> Yeah. And there's a fourth thing to me. The most important thing actually they. all work together because they're all. super important. Mhm. >> Uh and they, you know, if one of these. is gone, well, actually, if if the. thermometer was gone, you just wouldn't. know the temperature and you could still. know the humidity and the. >> uh air pressure, right? >> Sure. I guess so. >> I'm being silly. What I'm what I'm. saying is there's a transmitter up. there, you guys. There's a radio. transmitter. >> and it it relays this information down.

to the ground. And the reason why that's. important is because these balloons go. up up up up and they get bigger and. bigger and bigger until they're I think. they're about 5 feet in diameter when. they start. >> Yeah. >> By the time they get up to their their. dying point, they they can be as big as. a moving truck and those things burst. >> and everything crashes down to the. ground. Uh there there is a little. parachute that engages to take that uh. radio sa down to the ground gently, but.

they're not counting on finding that. thing because that data has been. transmitted back already. >> Exactly. And that's what makes it so. much more um advantageous than what they. were using back in the 20s and 30s, which is like kites or maybe a plane. You had to wait until the kite got. reeled back in or the plane landed to. get the data you needed to start doing. calculations. This is, you know, almost. real time data. I say we take a break and we come back. and talk about um weather balloon.

launches and some of the other things. about weather balloons. >> Let's do it. Learning stuff with Joshua. Charles. Stuff you should know.

Okay, Chuck. So, there's some pretty. neat stuff about weather balloons that. we haven't even begun to touch on, right? >> Yeah. >> One of the first things is how high up. they go. They go up to what's known as. the stratosphere, which is the second to. last layer before you hit outer space. Second to last atmospheric layer before. you hit outer space. And it's something. like 18 miles, I think. Did you say that.

when you talked about it swelling up to. the size of a truck? >> Yeah. I mean, that's that's about the. distance that it can go before you're in. danger of of rupturing. >> Yeah. And I mean, like, it's close to. the edge of space. Tristan Hopper, the. How Stuff Works writer who wrote this, pointed out that um like if if the. weather balloon had eyes and a brain and. all that. I'm adding that part. And it. looked up, it'd be the blackness of. outer space, but if it looked down, it'd. see the blue sky below it. So, it's it's. up there, and it's pretty amazing. And. then it pops and dies, and the radio.

song comes back to the ground. Um, and. because these things work so well, because they're so actually cheap to do, I think it's like a few hundred dollars. to release one, which compared to other. techniques like a rocket launch or even. a air airplane ride. >> Yeah. >> It's very cheap. And so much so that. they um release these things a couple of. times a day to the tune of like 67. 68,000 a year just in the United States. >> Yeah. uh they have 92 weather stations. that they do those couple a day and.

they've been doing this for for many. many decades uh when they first figured. this out. They've been doing it since. then. And there are more than 900. weather stations uh I think all over the. world like you said that are doing this. kind of thing. And the balloon itself um. is neoprene. It's a synthetic rubber. Uh. it's filled with either helium or. hydrogen depending on uh you know which. uh big gas you're in bed with. Uh. hydrogen is cheaper. uh it can lift a. little bit better and it's more easily. extracted from water, but it's really.

flammable as you'll can recall from the. uh Hindenburg episode. >> Yeah. >> So, a lot of those things have exploded. So, a lot of people will go with helium. instead. >> Um but like you said, they're they're. they're cheap. So, they've been doing. this with weather balloons for a long. time. And the advantage obviously is. that you know, you're high up there. I I. know you said they used kites before to. predict the weather, but the other thing. they did was use their eyeballs and. would lick their finger and hold it up. in the air. >> Yeah, this is a big point that about.

weather balloons. The reason that they. let them go up so high or they want them. to go up so high is that you can really. tell a lot more about weather at higher. altitudes than you can from the ground. because it might look at like a nice. sunny day here on Earth. Uh but then. just, you know, a couple tens of. thousands of feet up in the the air, there's like some disturbance in the. force growing that's going to turn into. a major thunderstorm that's going to. produce a tornado that's going to kill a. bunch of people. So if you have data.

about those things that are starting to. form, you can predict what's going to. happen and warn people with way more. time than you could just from making. groundbased observations. So, that's. another reason why they're so relied on. is that all you need are these cheap. instruments that are designed to. basically just fall back to Earth and be. forgotten about. Yeah. >> Um, and you can save, you know, lives of. people from from the information they're. relaying back. >> Yeah, for sure. It's it's kind of one of. those just lowfi solutions that helps uh.

if you think like, oh, wait, what. happens here? These things just fall out. in the woods like you were talking. about? >> Uh, or maybe hit somebody in the head. >> Yeah. Um, thankfully I don't think. that's happened yet, but they do become. litter, uh, which is kind of the downer. of all this. You know, they can travel. hundreds of miles if they're in a good. wind current and they can land anywhere. basically. Uh, I think, you know, the. idea of trying to send people out or. trucks out or helicopters out to go.

retrieve these is that defeats the. purpose of these being cheap. But, and. this is a very cool to me, the fact of. the show. Yeah. >> Is if you come across one of those radio. signs, it comes with a a postage paid. envelope. >> and you can put that thing inside an old. weather balloon and mail it back to the. National Weather Service and they'll. send it back up again. >> They do. They send it back up and then. they send you a junior weather service. operator's um t-shirt.

>> Do they really? >> I No. >> Oh, god. They should. They should. because I'm sure they get so few back. that you could do that kind of thing. You know, >> I got a new life goal, man. I want to. find one of these one day. >> Awesome. Maybe maybe it's like um the. Neielson people and they send you like. three $1 bills. >> Yeah. Uh before we close, I think we. have to mention just to keep from. getting emails, we got to mention the uh. the lawn chair guy. >> Oh, for sure. Larry. I think we I. thought we talked about him in maybe the.

Ignobel Awards. We may have, but we got. to mention him again here. >> Okay. So, he was a truck driver who in. 1982 decided that he wanted to float. from Los Angeles over to the Rocky. Mountains. He said, "Well, weather. balloons work pretty well. I'm going to. attach 42 of them to my lawn chair and. see what happens." And he he did this. He actually did. He lifted off and. things were going well for the first. like minute or two. Yeah. Uh, he, you know, I guess he.

didn't do the math or maybe that just. wasn't his strong point, but. >> he did, Josh, man. >> He ended up at 16,000 ft. And I know. they made a movie about this, which I'm. sure was portrayed as a a lot of laughs, but uh or maybe not, but I can't imagine. anything more terrifying than being. 16,000 ft above the air. >> No. >> And and realizing like, wow, I've really. gotten in over my head here. And this. was July of 1982, so he wasn't dressed. for 16,000 ft either, which is very.

chilly, >> right? >> That's a good point. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, this was not a great. experience for him. Luckily, even though. he hadn't done the math correctly or at. all, he did have the foresight to bring. an air gun with him so that he could. shoot out some of the balloons or all of. them and land safely. So, he just shot. out some of the weather balloons, I. guess, a little earlier than he expected. to, and he landed gently back in. somebody's backyard in Long Beach. Probably Snoop Dogs. >> Could you Have you seen pictures of this.

guy? >> No. >> Flying over Los Angeles? >> No, I haven't. >> All right, I'm going to send you a. picture. It's incredible looking. It. looks exactly like you think it would. Yet, it's still mind-blowing. >> Did he have like a seat belt on the lawn. chair or is it just him sitting in a. lawn chair? It's hard to tell, but it. looks I mean, if you zoom in, unless. this is a fake picture. I wonder if this. is fake. >> Oh, yeah. >> This is a guy. It looks like a guy. sitting there watching the game with a. beer in his hand. But that might have. been the case.

>> Maybe. Maybe. >> I'll be. >> All right. I'm going to send it to you. either way. I'll send it to you and. Jerry right now. If I had done this and. I reached 16,000 feet, you would you. would know that I was coming because you. would just hear my scream getting louder. and louder and it'd just be incessant. and non-stop and you would never be able. to get me to let go of the lawn chair. because I'd be out of my mind. dissociated somewhere else and um it. would just be a bad scene I think. Yeah, I think the movie scene it would just it.

would show someone like at an outdoor. cafe and they're just like they put. their fork down like what am I hearing. in the in the distance and then it just. gets louder and then everyone's looking. up and it's not Superman. >> Uh also speaking of dissociation, uh I actually dissociated earlier in. this episode when you were making your. joke. >> Which one? >> The one about um the most important. component. >> Oh, okay. So that's why you didn't get a. very good um laugh out of me because I.

was out of my body for a second. >> Hey man, you don't have to explain. anything to me. After 18 years, all is forgiven on both of our accounts, right? >> Thank you. Yes. >> Okay, good. >> I just made the symbol of the cross with. my two fingers. >> All right. I'm sure that means. something. >> Okay. Well, that's it for short stuff. So, what does that mean, Chuck? >> It's out. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple.

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