Piedmont Elementary Students Launch Weather Balloon

DULUTH, Minn. — 5th grade students at Piedmont Elementary School had the opportunity to expand their scientific minds Tuesday.

Clear skies made it possible for the young scientists to launch a weather balloon thousands of feet into the air. Weather balloons take several hours to reach altitudes up to 100,000 feet before they pop and parachute back down to Earth. A GPS tracker will then show where it lands.

The students were filled with excitement for the launch and eager to learn more about the atmosphere.

“We’re really excited. I think I’m really lucky that I get to hold this. We’re really lucky to be able to be doing this and that we could find helium too. Yeah, cause this is the most helium they ever had,” said Jakilah, Tommie, and Averi, students at Piedmont Elementary.

A weather instrument attached to the balloon collects information such as temperature, wind and air pressure which it sends back to Earth using a radio signal.

“Data’s gonna come back. There’s a little flight computer on there and data’s gonna come back and they’re gonna be able to analyze that data. And think okay did it get colder going up, was the air pressure less. There’s just so much that they can learn from that, and they’re motivated because this is their experiment, that’s their balloon and they were a part of that excitement. And then going through the data begins to make sense and something that they want to do,” said Dave Johnson, balloon project coordinator.

Every year, elementary and junior high students in St. Louis County are able to do experiments like this as part of a STEM project made possible by the county and Essentia Health. Some of this experience is even provided by the Duluth Airshow.