• Question: What are the effects of breathing helium gas on humans?

    Asked by rhooper821 to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 18 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Benjamin Hall

      Benjamin Hall answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Other than making your voice go high-pitched, I have no idea.

      I’m told you can get pretty ill if you inhale too much though!

    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Funny squeaky voices – lots of fun 🙂

      I think the light gas interacts with your voice box differently that normal air, which is why you sounds all squeaky.

      I you use a heavy gas (sulphur hexafluoride) you’re voice goes super deep instead – there are loads of videos of people doing this on you tube

    • Photo: Sam Horrell

      Sam Horrell answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      I believe it all comes down to how the sound waves from your voice box interact with the gas. Sound waves move faster through the helium because it is lighter than the elements in regular air. This means the sound travels at a higher frequency so the sound becomes more high pitched.

      Same principle with the sulphur hexafluride David mentioned, it is heavier than air so sound moves slower.

      Make sure you don’t breathe in to much though because it can displace the oxygen in your lungs which is not a good thing.

    • Photo: Susana Teixeira

      Susana Teixeira answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      It affects your voice, because your vocal cords vibrate differently in its presence and so produce waves that have a different wavelength .

      You should be careful about inhaling it though, remember that if you breath pure helium there will not be any oxygen so besides a Mickey voice you can feel dizziness, headache and suffocation.

Comments