"Joey Tribiani" > wrote in message
news:gibee.1396$sy6.247@lakeread04...

>> True. The pressure inside the balloon lowers as the atmospheric pressures
>> lowers, and the ballooon ruptures because it expands beyond its
>> elasticity
>> (elasticity is lost mostly due to stretching but also in part by the low
>> temperature of the environment), but what's the point of the observation?
>> How does it relate to Dan's position?

> it relates simply because dan is proposing that stepping on a balloon will
> in essence *raise* the pressure till it pops...it won't...the pressure
> inside is just displaced from under the foot and the balloon stretches
> until
> the surface ruptures

He is right. If stepping on the balloon causes the skin to exceed its
capacity, then it behaves just as it would if it were at a high altitude,
and for the same reasons.