What you can make by freezing a water balloon

This is a small science project I tried when I wondered what would happen if a water balloon froze. (this is my first instructable, so go easy when giving comments.)

Step 1: Fill the balloon with water.

Fill the balloon till it gets to be the size of at least a basketball. then put it into a freezer droor.

Step 2: Freezing the balloon

When you take the ice out of the freezer, the water in the center will usually leak out. this means you did it right. it also gives it a see through appearance.
(freeze for at least 5 or 6 hours.)

when you go to freeze the balloon, make sure NOT to underfreeze. if you do, your ball of ice may crack and gush all over your freezer.

Step 3: Remove from freezer

when you remove the ice ball from the freezer, imediately bring the ice ball over to the sink.
A crack will usually form somewhere on the ball of ice, and water will leak from the center. If it doesn't leak properly try using some hot water to make a hole.

remove from freezer, and enjoy.

Comments

[MMoyce]

I did this years ago the balloon popped & sealed the door shut

[crapsoup]

this would be neat for anyone who wanted to practice some ice sculpting skills!

[crouchingwolf]

whoa that thing is gigantic cant even throw it would have to roll it at the way out and send it down a hill barreling toward some one...... the guy in the cubicle next to you at work >:D

[howtokissinfo.com]

Thats one Water Baloon that I WOULD NOT appreciate being hit by LOL

[aidanjarosgrilli]

in the summer of 1986 all the neighborhood children were playing with water bombs. No-one forgot Little Timmy or the new rule: do not put your water bombs in the freezer

[instructables is cool]

neither would I.

[videogamemaster]

You'd get brained :3

[thepelton]

You could kill someone with that.

[AkshayRobotics]

Not really, but yeah! You can severely harm them!

[fireball1234]

That is sooooooooooooooooooo cool

[Physic]

leave over night in outdoor freezer and they go solid then go bowling

[TN777]

I might try that!

[Ninjagunner51]

it would probably explode as soon as it hits a pin lol but its worth a shot

[tranvi007]

A terrible prank would be to freeze smaller balloons and throw them at your friends thinking it was water balloons...

[jdudeisdaman]

dude, no offense but when you post something as simple and lame as making a piece of ice your asking to get ridiculed. you might as well make an instructable on how to put on a sock. :p

[nickajeglin]

Indeed there are many different types of socks. Some have foot shaped curves, while others are just a tube. Kindly include the differences in technique between these two types of socks.

[toogers]

ditto

[tcabeen]

This would be very helpful, as I have trouble with socks. Especially include video! Link us when you get it ready! Good luck!

[toogers]

ditto

[nanor11395]

me too

[agent-0008]

also tell the difference between the long and short socks! and the socks for different days of the week!

[OwlsAndCake]

I love instructables.

[toogers]

i want to do this with one of those extra-long balloon animal balloons.

[Disturbedguy]

How long do you put the balloon in the freezer for? I read all the steps and couldn'yt find it :(

[Mr.Stein]

5 - 6 hrs

[Robot Lover]

You could put a cup in the middle before freezing. Take it out when its frozen, and then you could pour a drink in it!

[antoman11]

Awesome Idea :D

[bwells2]

Imagine being hit by one, ouch :(

[niblewiz]

Ok you're off to a good start, I have not posted anything yet so i can't be mean...so ill give constructive criticism. -Show me how i can freeze alcohol in the middle of the balloon for a party. the trick will be two things. One to get the right mix of hard liquor and mix to get the mushy slushy stuff. The real difficult part would be to freeze it in the center of an ice block. hmmm.....balloon within a balloon? Now get to it and make something worth while...you do this and it will over shadow this lame instructable

[nachobobs]

Alcohol has a lower freezing point than water, an alcoholic beverage below 25-30% will freeze in a standard freezer. Now, the clever part....

The alcohol will be driven inwards by the freezing process, leaving behind its carrier liquid. If done correctly, an outside layer of ice will form and an alcoholic slush of around 35%-40% will be formed in the middle.... No need to try and put it in there artificially. You just have to be careful with timing :)


Picture this - A (strong) cosmopoolitan mix with vodka and cranberry, around 10% abv. Put into a ballon, frozen as above with a liquid centre...

Nice red icy shell, with around 35% alcohol in the middle !!! :)

Try it with any mixed drinks, wine or beer. As long as the starting abv (alcohol by volume) is less than around 25-30% the freezing and driving out of the alcohol will work.

It is commonly practiced in Scandanavian countries to leave a batch of home brew outside overnight in the cold months to freeze into a block with a nice hit of strong stuff in the middle.

Give it a try!!

[stephenniall]

OR you could fill a small balloon with vodka or something Use a bigger baloon around the smaller Popped balloon when its frozen and fill that with water.

[feralin]

you could freeze water in a balloon, then get the water out through a hole and then pour alchohol in the hole

[NobodyInParticular]

You could use liquid nitrogen (actually not too hard to find) to freeze solid the alcohol itself, then seal it in water ice, and let it sit in the freezer until the alcohol melts.

[niblewiz]

great idea, what would you put the alcohol in when freezing it? a balloon? what would the liquid nitrogen do to the balloon?

[NobodyInParticular]

It would become very brittle, but I suspect your balloon would survive contact with the liquid nitrogen if it weren't too full. I haven't tried this, myself.

You might also be interested in this Instructable. It explains how you can rapidly freeze anything with a higher melting point than pure alcohol. It's not as safe to work with as liquid nitrogen and won't freeze pure alcohol but avoids the need to buy a vacuum flask.

[falcotheimpaler]

small balloon full of alcohol. tie it shut. hang that inside a balloon of the same size, (careful stretching the outer balloon, you know the deal) partially fill that balloon with water, but keep the inner balloon's knot close to the opposite side of the outer balloon's knot make it so that the outer balloon's air bubble will be at the inner balloon's knot. once the water is completely frozen, pop and cut it, then cut the inner balloon and carefully remove it. you cant leave the inner balloon full of just air, because it would compress, and you cant fill it with water because that would freeze. anyway, you now have an alcohol-soaked balloon peel and a weird shaped cup. take a latex glove or some membrane and cover the hole in the ice block. then fill (but not completely, you want a cavity, still) with water, support this all by the already frozen block of ice. you should now have a big block of ice with a hole in the middle. drill a hole (with a clean bit, you wanna make this edible) and fill with alcohol of your choice. then... you have a ball of ice full of alcohol with a hole in it. your turn. find a way to freeze the hole shut without watering down the alcohol. (as if the melting ice wouldnt do it... shutup)

[alexhalford]

Or just cut the thing in half, carve out the cavity, melt the edges of the two parts slightly and put them back in the freezer for a while... sorted.

[A good name]

Or you can just store the alchohol and people who drink could lick it like an alchohol sundae XD

[Mr. Bean117]

if you froze 2 halves of a block of ice separately and then drilled a sort of well in the middle of one of them, you could maybe pull it off, although it would be a giant ice cube, not a balloon

[Mouserz]

why not just drill a hole and replace the water in the ice sphere with alcohol and put it back in the freezer