Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Not so much a thought experiment as a single neuron misfire.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                     

Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register. Please log in or create an account.

Dueling Balloons

The air vent game plays automatically each time the blower kicks on
  (+18)(+18)
(+18)
  [vote for,
against]

For irrelevant reasons a co-worker and I took a piece of fishing line, threaded it through openings of an air vent cover and tied balloons to each end.

Each time the heat kicked on the balloons would rise from the floor and begin bouncing off of one another. We noticed that they always hit each other in approximately the same areas. It seemed as if they were battling.

So we decided to tape paper clips, with one end bent out horizontally, to each balloon and bet on which one would outlast the other. To our surprise it took over a week of dueling to get a winner, but they fought well, frequently hitting their targets.

We decided to try this with different balloons on different vent covers only to find that they didn’t work as well on ceiling vents and that the measurements for spacing and length of line was important and required too much tweaking to get another game started.

So I suggest we make a light weight magnetic device that will attach to the vent cover, floor or ceiling. It will have lines with clips on the ends for attaching the balloons and be shaped so as to cause the air flow to result in attached balloons to consistently bounce off each other in approximately the same spots.

We then will pick our favorite sports team balloons, or political candidate, or just hero and villain balloons, and then attach our weapons, paper clips work well, to the spot of our choice, place our bets and let the game begin. I think this could be a fun game for home or office. Probably office bets would be more popular, at break times of coarse.

BTW my red Cardinal won against a white Knight in the first and only game in known history. I can't wait to put the political candidates up for a duel, best of three for a small wager and glory.

UfosOverChina, Jan 17 2008

[link]






       I like it.
normzone, Jan 17 2008
  

       [UfosOverChina], You are fired!!
zeno, Jan 18 2008
  

       What if you have an unarmed blue "UN" balloon in the middle, do the other two bash hell out of it ?
8th of 7, Jan 18 2008
  

       sp. Duelling
DrCurry, Jan 18 2008
  

       Gentlemen, choose your balloons.
wagster, Jan 18 2008
  

       Remember the "balloons and blunderbusses" duel between the Frenchman and the German in "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines" ?
8th of 7, Jan 18 2008
  

       That was a cultural comment.
DrCurry, Jan 18 2008
  

       I was more concerned with the spelling of balloons. I didn't know if it was two Ls or just Os. The double Ls and Os didn't look right.   

       But, if I can have my choice I think I might like the double Ls in duelling as they could be reflective of the two balloons. Can I put dots over them?   

       Dueiiing. Nope. Not unless the UN comes to play.
UfosOverChina, Jan 18 2008
  

       If you must du, you should try to du el.
bungston, Jan 18 2008
  

       boy, do you have too much time on your hands or what?? :D still, this is admittedly better than lots of other stupid office games...paperclips at the ready; and GO!
drummac88, Mar 06 2008
  
      
[annotate]
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle