Blow up the balloon, and tie a knot at the end. The balloon should be shorter than your skewer, and not stretched too tight. Did you know that the balloon is filled with exhaled air, which is a gas?Dip your skewer in the dish detergent, and rub it on the end of the balloon opposite the knot, where the dark spot is.
Carefully push the skewer into the dark spot on the balloon by twisting it while gently exerting pressure on it.
Push the skewer out of the balloon near the knot.
Why it works:
Balloons are made of rubber, which is a polymer. The molecules are joined into long chains in a network structure. The material is very flexible, allowing it to change shape. This is why we can blow up a balloon.
The polymer is porous, with small holes between its chains. The skewer can pass through those holes with out breaking the chains.
There is a limit to how far the molecules will stretch before the balloon will break. When you put the skewer through the side, where the molecules have been stretched farther, the network is broken, and the balloon pops.
