CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) -- An official with the Bootheel Youth Museum in Malden says adults and children attending an annual Science Day have broken the world record for blowing up balloons.

Jason Lindsey is outreach science educator for the museum. He says the Science Day attendees yesterday inflated 852 balloons in an hour. The previous record was 600 balloons.

The record is being verified by the Guinness Book of World Records organization.

Hundreds of students from southeast Missouri and western Illinois were invited to participate.

Last year's Science Day saw attendees help break the world record for most Mentos fountains launched at once. They launched 973 fountains by adding the mint candy to bottles of soda.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)