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Gert
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One indication whether the 'inner' balloons are filled with helium or something heavier is whether the 'outer' balloon still floats in air or not.

Whether it floats or not depends on whether its overall density is lower than air's density or not. Its overall density $d$ is simply given by:

$$d=\frac{\Sigma m}{V}$$

Where $\Sigma m$ is the sum of all the masses that make up the balloon and $V$ its total volume.

The sum of all masses means the sum of:

  1. Mass of outer balloon material
  2. Mass of helium
  3. Masses of all inner balloons material
  4. Masses of all gas contained in the inner balloons

If the inner balloons are filled with air and there are too many of them the overall density will exceed that of air and the outer balloon will not float.

But even if the inner balloons are all filled with helium, the outer balloon may still not float. That's because a larger number of inner balloons making up the same volume of a smaller number of inner balloons with create more mass because of the increased surface area and the inherent 'cost' in mass of larger number of inner balloons. For that reason:

Obviously, if the inner balloons were filled with something moderately lighter than helium, they would float, but they're huddled at the bottom, so it's either helium or plain air.

... is not necessarily correct.

If the mass of the outer balloon material, the total volume of the balloon, the mass of the inner balloon material and the volume of the inner balloons was known, then depending on whether the outer balloon still floats in air or not, the lower or lower limit of the density of the inner balloon gas could be calculated.

Gert
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