Kids and balloons are a classic. Saturday morning, the pairing reached new heights with a heavy dose of science in tow that nobody minded as area 4-Hers partnered with the meteorology department of Valparaiso University to launch a weather balloon in the name of education.
Eight 4-Hers and some younger siblings held the white, 8-foot diameter balloon and its payload tethered to Earth with gloved hands as VU meteorologists topped off the helium. “We’re going to close the tank here,” said VU staff meteorologist Leanne Blind. “Let’s see what the weight is: 4.5 kilograms.”
“That is 12 pounds straight up,” translated her colleague Christopher Phillips, visiting assistant professor of geology, meteorology and environmental science. “A very large baby weighs 11, 12 pounds, so if you can imagine a very large baby loaded into the sky.”
Part of that baby weight was a collection of student experiments the kids selected the evening before. They chose gummy bears, marshmallows, a Lego astronaut, and a sour cream container full of fruit with the intent of later studying how the different layers of the Earth’s atmosphere affected the items. “I did popcorn kernels,” said 9-year-old Ava Spoljarik, a member of the Morgan Sodbusters 4-H Club. “It might pop, I guess.”
She and her siblings, 11-year-old Owen and 7-year-old Audrey, came with their parents, who are VU alumni. Their mom, Ashley Spoljaric, studied meteorology at VU and now serves as superintendent of Porter County’s Weather and Climate Science Project.
Porter County 4-H Extension Educator Jennifer Myers said the project is currently tiny, so they jumped at the invitation from VU’s Dan White, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, to get involved in the launch.
“It’s very hands-on STEM,” Myers said, “whereas a lot of STEM” is more work with a kit.
NearSpace Education funded the project, and it is just one of several this year. “We try to do about 10,” said VU Professor of Meteorology Teresa Bals-Elsholz. “This past year was incredible. We did 12 in one week. We did three in a day for four days.”
That work was part of a study of atmospheric rivers on the West Coast.
The body of water most concerning for Saturday’s launch was Lake Michigan. The balloon was predicted to burst once it reached a diameter of 25 feet at an altitude of approximately 75,000 feet. “We’ve never had one land in the lake,” said White.
“It will be back down on the ground in about two hours,” he added. “An hour-and-a-half before it bursts, the parachute will slow it down.”
“Are you guys going to do the weather and climate science project next year?” Myers asked the Spoljarik kids. “Probably,” Owen replied.
“Should have done it this year, but I lost the battle,” said his dad, Scot Spoljaric.
“We’re going to take lots of pictures when I find this,” White promised. The specimens were to be on display at the Porter County 4-H Building for the kids to check on Monday, but unfortunately, the balloon was lost in Lake Michigan.
“Our predictions were for it to land between I-94 and Highway 31, east of Benton Harbor,” White wrote in an email Saturday night. “Unfortunately, the winds above 65,000 feet were quite a bit stronger than we predicted, switching from southwest to easterly, and the burst height was higher than we wanted. The result is that the balloon and experiments landed in the lake about a mile west of St Joseph, Michigan. We were not able to find any evidence of it from the shoreline.”
What they do have is data recordings showing the balloon reached a height of 79,000 feet. The lowest recorded temperature was -49 degrees. It then warmed to -18 degrees at the burst height in the stratosphere. It rose 900 feet per minute for 90 minutes and then dropped under the parachute at 2,000 feet per minute, or 22 mph for about 45 minutes.
What they don’t know is if that popcorn ever popped. That remains a question for next year’s weather project.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
