Attempting to send anything to space is already an impressive feat with some people taking it as far as attempting to send food up and taste it when it falls down. As such, a TikToker tried to do exactly that as he sent a burger into space out of curiosity about what it tasted.
Burger in Space
Atton Raccaus on TikTok uploaded a two-part series on the social platform of his attempt to taste a burger that had flown into space. The experiment was created on a very straightforward basis of sending the burger into space, waiting for it to come down, and then eating the burger.
Atton wanted to see whether a burger that had flown into space would taste differently and to do this, he needed a burger, a balloon, and other pieces to create a flying rig. First, they attached a Big Mac to a giant helium balloon which he planned to send into space.
The goal was to send the burger into the stratosphere, which has a temperature of -60 °F and is located about 4-12 miles to 31 miles above the Earth's surface, where the helium balloon would explode and drop back to Earth. This layer of the Earth's atmosphere holds 19% of Earth's gases but has very little water vapor.
Experiment Results
While everything went well with regards to ascending the burger into space, as seen in the GoPro attached to the helium balloon, the problem started as the burger fell down. After an hour and 45 minutes, the helium balloon exploded and started its descent to Earth.
The travel down was estimated to be 30 minutes in total, broken by a parachute. Atton followed the GPS attached to the rig to track down the burger in the middle of the forest but to his surprise, the burger was no longer attached.
The TikToker spent a few minutes looking for the burger nearby before deciding to check the camera footage, which revealed the shocking truth about the experiment. As such, the video showed that while the burger did reach space, upon descension, the pressure was way too strong, resulting in the burger falling out of place and disappearing into space.
Reactions to the Burger in Space
Some comments on TikTok pointed out that there's now literally a burger in space and while many users marveled at the fact that now a flying burger was up in the sky, others pointed out flaws in his experiment.
The first was that only one strap was used to hold the burger to the basket attached to the helium balloon. Because of this, the burger had much room to move around and could easily be dislodged as its weight transfers during descension.
One simple improvement he could have made was to tie the burger down with an X, ensuring four sides of the burger equally hold it into place. Another argument was that the burger was too loose, leaving much room for it to move around amid extreme pressure.
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