# New weight loss plan - Helium! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242 "2011-02-22T16:41:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zombiemommy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@zombiemommy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombiemommy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/1 "2011-02-22T16:41:58Z")
How much helium would an average human being have to ingest to weigh one pound less weight due to the added bouyancy? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/2 "2011-02-22T16:44:23Z")
> **[Lifting gas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifting_gas#Hydrogen_and_helium)** > > A lifting gas or lighter-than-air gas is a gas that has a density lower than normal atmospheric gases and rises above them as a result, making it useful in lifting lighter-than-air aircraft. Only certain lighter-than-air gases are suitable as lifting gases. Dry air has a density of about 1.29 g/L (gram per liter) at standard conditions for temperature and pressure (STP) and an average molecular mass of 28.97 g/mol, and so lighter-than-air gases have a density lower than this. > Heated atmospheric ... > [@](#): > > And the buoyant mass for one liter of helium in air is: > > ``` > * 0.1786 g * (1 - (1.292 / 0.1786) ) = -1.113 g > > ``` Since a pound is 454 grams, you’d need about 400 liters of helium to lift one pound. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/3 "2011-02-22T16:48:28Z")
Of course, if you’re pumping yourself full of helium, that helium is under pressure, and so is more dense, and so has less lifting power. If the density of the pressurized helium is greater than the surrounding air, you get no lift at all. ---
**Author:** ![zombiemommy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@zombiemommy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombiemommy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/4 "2011-02-22T16:56:44Z")
There goes my plan to lose 5 pounds prior to summer. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/5 "2011-02-22T17:16:09Z")
Back when I was a kid, some bike stores would fill your bike tires with helium rather than compressed air to reduce weight. It’s a stupid idea in the first place because the difference in weight is pretty damned small (although, even if compressed, helium’s density is still less than the density of ordinary air), but more because helium, being so small, leaks out much more easily than compressed air. Like the circus balloon you bought that is sitting on the floor the next day, you just lose too much air from the tires and have to pump them up again. Nice racket. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/6 "2011-02-22T17:23:27Z")
You’d just be farting helium? Are there any dangers of mixing helium and methane or would that just make your farts rise to nose height faster? Incressing the rapidity of smell would make the whole smelt it/dealt it debate even more confusing. Almost forgot, Helium Farts - Band Name! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/7 "2011-02-22T17:30:04Z")
If you farted helium, would the flatulence come out sounding more highly pitched than normal? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/8 "2011-02-22T17:43:05Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Back when I was a kid, some bike stores would fill your bike tires with helium rather than compressed air to reduce weight.. I thought this was going to be a joke but I see it’s not. Nowadays auto tire shops charge extra for using nitrogen… ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/9 "2011-02-22T18:54:21Z")
Helium can reduce your apparent weight only to the extent that it replaces something denser - presumably air. You could gain a small advantage by breathing air in which the nitrogen had been replaced with helium (you still need the oxygen). Were talking a few liters here, so just a few grams of weight “lost”. Beyond that, you have very little air inside you, so nothing to gain (lose?) from helium. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/10 "2011-02-22T19:32:31Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > If you farted helium, would the flatulence come out sounding more highly pitched than normal? Could this be the single greatest question ever posed on the SDMBs? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/11 "2011-02-22T19:37:43Z")
> [@](#): > > If you farted helium, would the flatulence come out sounding more highly pitched than normal? According to _Farscape_, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/12 "2011-02-22T19:43:01Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Beyond that, you have very little air inside you, so nothing to gain (lose?) from helium. Quite - and if you replace the air in the biggest bodily space with pure helium, it causes loss of consciousness, possibly death. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/13 "2011-02-22T20:06:35Z")
GQ seems abnormally gassy today. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/14 "2011-02-22T20:06:54Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I thought this was going to be a joke but I see it’s not. Nowadays auto tire shops charge extra for using nitrogen… the nitrogen replacement isn’t the same as the helium-lightening racket. nitrogen doesn’t leak out through the rubber as easily as air, making for more stable tires. i guess to an extent this would be the same for helium and bike tires but… with the low speeds that kids are dealing with it’s really negligible. ---
**Author:** ![Hairy\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Hairy\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hairy_Bob)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/15 "2011-02-22T20:07:59Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I thought this was going to be a joke but I see it’s not. Nowadays auto tire shops charge extra for using nitrogen… //hijack/ Nitrogen is offered for filling car tyres because it is more stable than air, the pressure change at different temperatures is less than air, and I _think_ it’s less likely to contain water vapour, which causes corrosion. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/16 "2011-02-22T20:10:16Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > If you farted helium, would the flatulence come out sounding more highly pitched than normal? Sounds like a job for Mythbusters. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/17 "2011-02-22T20:17:09Z")
I think you could only possibly lose that much apparent weight if you took in enough helium to inflate your body like a balloon (i.e., increasing its buoyancy by raising its volume without much changing its actual mass). Thus any loss in apparent weight would be accompanied by an actual increase in apparent fatness (which is surely not the desired result). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/18 "2011-02-22T20:26:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Nitrogen is offered for filling car tyres because it is more stable than air, the pressure change at different temperatures is less than air, and I _think_ it’s less likely to contain water vapour, which causes corrosion. All ideal gasses change pressure with temperature in exactly the same way, and nitrogen and oxygen are both excellent approximations to ideal gasses under Earthly conditions. As for leakage, the biggest factor is the mass of the molecules (since at a given temperature, lighter molecules are moving faster), and this would actually work against nitrogen. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/19 "2011-02-22T20:58:08Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > If you farted helium, would the flatulence come out sounding more highly pitched than normal? Excellent question! You know how sometimes you have those squeaky high-pitched farts? If you had those while on helium would they be so high-pitched that only dogs could here them? It would make it easier to blame the dog. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242/20 "2011-02-22T21:03:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > All ideal gasses change pressure with temperature in exactly the same way, and nitrogen and oxygen are both excellent approximations to ideal gasses under Earthly conditions. As for leakage, the biggest factor is the mass of the molecules (since at a given temperature, lighter molecules are moving faster), and this would actually work against nitrogen. pchem\>physics in this case. the nitrogen molecule is less massive, but volumetrically bigger. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-weight-loss-plan-helium/572242.md?page=2)