This simple experiment involving a helium-filled balloon and a minivan created by Destin from Smarter Every Day will make your brain ache.Destin and his two adorable assistants make a helium-filled balloon do something very, very strange inside their accelerating minivan.
source/image: SmarterEveryDay
So strange, in fact, that you might feel like his family car is a secret portal to a land where physics is broken.In this video, the balloon goes backwards when Destin brakes, moves forward when he speeds up, and goes against all our common sense as he turns left and right.
It all comes down to the fact that helium is lighter than air. So when the car brakes, the air molecules do follow the laws of inertia and collect in the back of the minivan.
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But this displaces the helium-filled balloon, and pushes it towards the front of the car, away from the collection of air molecules.It all makes sense.
