**
Sucking too much gas eh? You forgot the “U” in “Colour”…
(Call yourself a Canadian.)
:d&r:
😃
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/29 "2002-06-08T13:46:27Z")
Mike Nesmith (once of the Monkees) had a wonderful routine about this.
“You start doing helium and prety soon you end up on street corners selling hydrogen to support your habit.”
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### Author:  [@stofsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stofsky)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/30 "2002-06-08T17:00:16Z")
Hey! This isn’t funny. My junior year of high school, at the homecoming game, I sucked down an entire helium balloon without taking a breath. I passed out and split my head open on the concrete, requiring several stitches to my noggin. If the government or school officials had only banned helium to protect me, I’d not have this ugly scar under my hair.
Note: the above post is filled with sarcasm. Only the incident is true, and I blame it on my own stupidity.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/31 "2002-06-08T17:18:05Z")
Personally I don’t buy the whole “helium leads to hydrogen leads to cigarettes leads to marijuana leads to heroin” thing. I mean, there has to be a crossover between the hydrogen and cigs, right? Seems to me that if there were a problem it would be self-limiting.
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### Author:  [@sau\_chitnis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sau_chitnis)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/32 "2002-06-08T17:28:43Z")
I know this is a little off topic but I gotta ask it. Why does helum make your voice like a operist???
Jedi ONline
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/33 "2002-06-09T00:10:47Z")
**stofsky** Thanks for the validation of my argument.
**DesertGeezer** Sounds like you have issues that I can’t help with. Sorry.
**sau-chitnis** Because sound travels at a different velocity in different substances.
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### Author:  [@Barking\_Spider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Spider)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/34 "2002-06-09T02:23:16Z")
I remember the McDonalds I worked at in High School had a Helium bottle for the birthday parties they would throw. We used to take snorts out of it all the time just for fun.
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### Author:  [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2002, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/35 "2002-06-09T06:50:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Barking Spider \*
> \*\*I remember the McDonalds I worked at in High School had a Helium bottle for the birthday parties they would throw. We used to take snorts out of it all the time just for fun. \*\*
Gee, I thought the sound of a barking spider came from someplace else. 😃
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2002, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/36 "2002-06-09T14:46:46Z")
Let’s see…
When I was younger, I had taken hits of helium from balloons, cleaned engine parts in benzine, dissected formaldehyde-soaked lab specimens in biology class, wore asbestos gloves in metal shop (to learn welding and blacksmithing basics), and played with mercury.
How did I ever live past twenty? 🙂
Seriously, I seem to recall a Jacques Cousteau TV special years ago where Cousteau’s divers were going down deeper than scuba divers could typically go. To do so, they used a mixture of gases in their tanks–there was oxygen, of course, but there was also helium, and perhaps some others. I don’t know why, but I would imagine the inclusion of helium had something to do with it being inert, depressurizing on the way up, nitrogen in the blood, and the bends. Anyway, if helium is as dangerous as some of these links say, how could Cousteau’s divers breathe it? (Assuming my memory is accurate, and they did use it?)
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2002, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/37 "2002-06-09T14:55:56Z")
Helium in diving ([Heliox or “trimix”)](http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/descrip.htm).
> [@](#):
>
> A fable about trimix is that you can’t breath it on the surface. Generally speaking, the human body can handle lowered 02 percentages down to 16%. So, if you did a 17% mix, you can breath it as long as you want without fear of hypoxia. The breathability of a mix is solely dependant on it’s 02 percentage, helium is complete inert and does not figure in.
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### Author:  [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/38 "2002-06-09T22:40:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by sau\_chitnis \*
> \*\*I know this is a little off topic but I gotta ask it. Why does helum make your voice like a operist???
>
> Jedi ONline \*\*
Well, I was _going to_ say that helium makes your vocal cords vibrate faster. Good thing I didn’t say that, because it’s incorrect.
From the Straight Dope [mailbag](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mheliumsqueak.html).
Short answer: The vocal cords are producing the same frequency, but the timbre is changed because sound moves more quickly through helium than through air.
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### Author:  [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/39 "2002-06-10T04:10:26Z")
This thread gave me the incentive to do a quick scan of the medical literature (using PubMed) to look for any reported toxicity or danger from inhaling helium. What did I find?
Inhaling _pressurized_ helium has caused:
1. [Heart attack](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12006819&dopt=Abstract)
2. [Stroke](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10692202&dopt=Abstract). Yes, a [stroke](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8780487&dopt=Abstract).
**I was unable to find any case reports in the medical literature documenting harm from inhaling nonpressurized helium**.
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### Author:  [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2002, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/40 "2002-06-10T04:17:56Z")
This thread gave me the incentive to do a quick scan of the medical literature (using PubMed) to look for any reported toxicity or danger from inhaling helium. What did I find?
Inhaling _pressurized_ helium has caused:
1. [Heart attack](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12006819&dopt=Abstract)
2. [Stroke](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10692202&dopt=Abstract). Yes, a [stroke](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8780487&dopt=Abstract).
**I was unable to find any case reports in the medical literature documenting harm from inhaling nonpressurized helium**.
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