Background

     Why do water balloons splash? This question can be answered with Newton's Third Law of Motion, which states: "Whenever one object exerts a force on a second object, the second exerts an equal and opposite force on the first" (Giancoli 83). Basically, when a water balloon is dropped from any height, the force of gravity will pull the balloon down. When the water balloon hits the ground, the ground will push back at the balloon with the same force that the water balloon pushes on the ground with. The force of the balloon is proportionate to the momentum of the balloon. Momentum can be calculated by the equation P=MV, which means that the total momentum equals the mass of the object multiplied by the objects velocity. If the water balloon has enough momentum when it hits the ground, then the ground will push back at the balloon with enough force to make the balloon break, letting the water rush out, or splashing.

picture of a balloon splashing because a bullet has ripped through it, creating enough force to cause a splash
(www.bmumford.com)

     Determining the breaking point of the balloon can also be calculated with P=MV. A very large water balloon, in other words a balloon with a lot of mass, does not need to be going very fast to create enough force to reach its breaking point. In our case, we used smaller balloons, so we needed to have a high enough velocity to make the balloons splash. We decided to have the height at three meters, which proved effective.