Final answer:
A weather balloon operates based on Charles's law and Boyle's Law, which relate to volume-temperature and volume-pressure relationships respectively, not Gay-Lussac's law, which describes pressure-temperature relationship at constant volume. So, the statement is false.
Step-by-step explanation:
A weather balloon functions primarily on the principle of Charles's law rather than Gay-Lussac's law. Charles's law states that the volume of a gas is directly proportional to its temperature on the kelvin scale when the pressure is held constant. This is because as a weather balloon rises, it encounters lower atmospheric pressure, leading to expansion of the helium gas inside due to the decrease in external pressure described by Boyle's Law. As the gas expands, this could cause the balloon to burst. Thus, the correct answer to the student's question is B) False.