Bursting balloons is good fun, but there is also some fascinating physics lurking in how the fabric of the balloon is ripped apart. Two physicists in France have studied the bursting process using a ...

A montage of the impact of several water balloons. Credit: E Jambon-Puillet and PT Brun) It is virtually impossible to burst a water balloon by throwing it at a wall unless the balloon has been ...

THE rips that tear through a rubber balloon when it is popped travel faster than the speed of sound in rubber, creating waves similar to the sonic boom made by an aircraft when it breaks the sound ...