Do helium trucks get lighter when full?

Answer 1

Well, honey, technically speaking, the weight of a helium truck does not change based on the amount of helium it's carrying. Helium is lighter than air, so it creates lift, but the overall weight of the truck remains the same. So, no, those trucks don't magically shed pounds when they're filled up with helium.

Answer 2

No, helium trucks do not get lighter when they are full. The weight of the truck is determined by the total mass of the truck and its contents, including the helium. When the truck is filled with helium, the weight of the helium is added to the weight of the truck, so the overall weight of the truck remains the same or increases.

Answer 3

It's an interesting question. First, if you want to be very precise, the truck will always have the same mass and therefore weight no matter what it's full of. If the gas was kept at atmospheric pressure in the truck, the helium would exert an upward force on the truck, so if you put the truck on a scale, it would "weigh less." But the helium in trucks and tanks are always compressed or kept at a higher pressure (so you can fit more). At the higher pressure, even helium weighs more than air at atmospheric pressure. So the truck would "weigh more" on a scale. This is why helium tanks don't float away.

Answer 4

No, helium has weight, but it rises when its in an expandable container such as a balloon because it is lighter than the nitrogen rich atmosphere but inside of a rigid container the helium can only add weight. (see the mythbuster's episode about the helium football)

Answer 5

Helium is lighter than air and just as the heaviest things will tend to fall to the bottom, the lightest things will rise to the top.

Helium weighs 0.1785 grams per liter. Nitrogen, which makes up 80% of the air we breathe, weighs 1.2506 grams per liter.

Basically, if you were to fill a soda bottle with helium and another with air, the one filled with helium would weigh a gram less than the bottle with air. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that's usually why blimps and balloons are usually really big, the one-gram difference really adds up in large volumes. Helium balloons follow the same principle as you do when you float in the water; the law of buoyancy. If the water you displace weighs more than you do, you will float.

Helium isn't the lightest element, hydrogen, weighing a mere 0.08988 grams per liter, is.

Wondering why we don't use that instead of helium?

Well, hydrogen balloons used to be really popular, but it is extremely flammable. The slightest spark will set off a huge explosion. The Hindenburg catastrophe was a direct result of that.

Did you know?

• Helium is a colorless, odorless, tasteless inert gas at room temperature and makes up about 0.0005% of the air we breathe.
• Helium's principal source is natural gas wells where it is extracted from the crude natural gas stream and purified and that it can be stored and shipped either as a gas or a cryogenic liquid.

Answer 6

No, helium trucks do not get lighter when they are full. The weight of the truck remains the same regardless of its contents.