The Dangers of Inhaling Helium

Helium Inhalation - it's no laughing matter

Have you ever been to a party and inhaled helium in an attempt to sound like Donald Duck? If so, you have probably put your life at risk!

Evidence has proven that the inhalation of helium can be fatal, yet thousands of party goers continue to inhale helium thinking it to be incredibly funny rather than life threatening. The inhalation of helium cuts off a person's supply of oxygen and can cause dizziness, unconsciousness and ultimately death!

Doctors around Australia are concerned about the health risk associated with people inhaling helium. This is a particular problem when people are inebriated and their system is already contending with an outside influence.

According to Consultant Occupational Health Physician, Dr Greg McGroder, "Australians have not yet realised the extreme danger associated with helium inhalation. If the concentration of oxygen is decreased below 18% within the human body, symptoms and signs of Asphyxia can occur. Helium gas can totally displace the available oxygen and if this is maintained for even a few seconds, asphyxia and death can and will occur".

In 1898, fifteen year old Michelle Moreno from Texas died from helium inhalation at a friend's party. Her death caused major headlines regarding the dangers of helium inhalation. In Australia, Kristi Brash from Victoria had a near death experience when she appeared to freeze and turn blue after inhaling the entire contents of a balloon. Kristi fell motionless to the floor but luckily regained consciousness after a few minutes. Kristi was rushed to hospital and after examination she appeared to be fine although any long term affects of the inhalation are yet to be determined.

Comedy television and radio programmes often use helium as a device to get laughs. This portrays helium inhalation as a fun, safe practice when, in effect, it is deadly. Public figures are influential in the minds of the public and they need to realise that they could either die from helium use or be indirectly responsible for the death of another.

BOC Gases is deeply concerned about the misuse of Balloon Gas and is going to great efforts to inform the public that helium inhalation can be fatal. Unfortunately with people continuing to ignore the dangers of this potentially lethal practice, it is a difficult task to educate the public that HELIUM INHALATION IS NO LAUGHING MATTER!

Article courtesy of BOC Gases

 

  
 

 
 

Inhaling Helium from a balloon

A little-known aspect of inhaling helium is how quickly you may lose consciousness due to asphyxia (oxygen deprivation). During the exchange of gases in the normal breathing process, the blood stream absorbs oxygen from air in the lungs, while carbon dioxide passes from the blood to the air. When you hold your breath, the exchange of gases slows, as "stale" air in the lungs is no longer replaced by "fresh" air.

This process does not stop instantly, however. Some time will pass before you start to experience serious physical distress. For example, you would likely have time to pick up and put down an object, walk across a room, or find a chair and sit down before feeling compelled to breathe again.

However, when the lungs are filled with helium, a different process takes over. Oxygen is actually removed from the blood stream during the exchange of gases. Depending on how completely oxygen is replaced by helium, you may lose consciousness quickly and without warning—you may literally pass out while still standing. The usual result is an uncontrolled fall that can cause serious injury, even if normal breathing resumes before brain damage occurs due to lack of oxygen.

  
 

 
 

Inhaling Helium direct from the tank

A typical equipment to inflate helium balloons comprises a helium cylinder, shut-off valve, pressure flow regulator, and tilt valve with balloon adapter.

Such a system is designed to fill balloons rapidly. Typically, it delivers a maximum helium gas flow rate of approximately five cubic feet per minute (cfm). Maximum flow rate is determined by the pressure/flow regulator and cylinder pressure—normally several hundred pounds per square inch (psi).

Attempting to inhale helium from a commercial helium balloon filling system poses a greater hazard than does inhaling helium from a balloon. Beyond the risk of passing out, the potential for fatal injury is present. Unfortunately, several young people have been killed while inhaling helium from such a system.

How can a healthy young person be killed by a seemingly harmless substance, you ask? Postmortem examinations of victims explain what occurs, while engineering analysis explains how.

Chemical reaction does not cause fatal injuries. Rather, the pressure of gas inside the lungs is the agent that can kill instantly. Autopsies show that the alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs have been ruptured. Death follows immediately, as the victims literally drown in their own blood. Under such circumstances, cardiopulmonary resuscitation is of no avail.

Articles courtesy of Compressed Gas Association

  
 

 
 

The Donald Duck Effect

The human voice originates when the stream of air flowing up the trachea undergoes pressure modulations as it passes between the vibrating vocal chords in the larynx. The sound produced consists of a fundamental frequency, which determines the voice's pitch, and harmonics (integral multiples) of this frequency. For adult males and females the average frequencies of the fundamentals are 130 hertz and 205 hertz, respectively. The amplitudes of the harmonics for vowel sounds vary approximately as the inverse of the 1.5 power of the order of the harmonic.

The sound that exits the mouth is the result of selective transmission by the configuration of the vocal tract (throat, mouth, and nasal cavities) produced by the tongue and lip constrictions. For any cavity, sound waves bouncing back and forth within it will interfere constructively for certain frequencies (the resonance frequencies) to produce a loud sound. The cavities in the vocal tract have such resonances, and the maxima in the sound transmission curve correspond to the resonance frequencies. Those harmonics near a resonance frequency of the vocal tract will be strongly transmitted, while the other harmonics will be damped. The lowest-frequency peak in the transmission curve is referred to as the fundamental, while the regions at the other peaks are called formants.

The fundamental frequency of a resonating cavity is directly proportional to the speed of sound in the gas occupying the cavity. But from the kinetic theory of gases, as well as direct measurements, we know that the speed of sound in an ideal gas (such as dry air) is proportional to the square root of the ratio T/M, where T is the absolute temperature of the gas and M is its molecular weight. For a fixed temperature and cavity volume, it is clear, therefore, that the speed of sound will be greatest for gases with the smallest molecular weights. For example, the speed of sound in dry air (M=28.964) at 0 degrees Celsius is 331.3 m/s. At this temperature in helium (M=4.003) the speed is 891.2 m/s. The resonance frequencies of the vocal tract, and hence the formants, are therefore almost 2.7 times higher for helium than for air. At a pressure of one atmosphere, with pure helium in your vocal tract instead of air, the pitch of your voice will be about two and a half octaves higher than usual (like Donald Duck's). For a helium-oxygen mixture containing 68% helium by volume, the pitch increase is only one and a half octaves.