What If You Inhaled 100 Helium Balloons

if you've ever been to a birthday party you can bet your bottom dollar that at some point either in adults or child but most likely both will untie a floating balloon inhale the helium inside and speak like they're auditioning for a lead role in a remake of Alvin and the Chipmunks everyone will laugh in a squeaky high-pitched voice harmless fun if you're just inhaling one balloons worth of helium that is but what happens if you inhale ten balloons or a hundred what have you got stuck speaking with a high-pitched voice forever or perhaps you get slowly light and buoyant that you'll simply float off into the atmosphere okay fine neither of those things will happen probably but we don't know for sure unless we find out so here goes helium itself is a colorless odorless gas with a bunch of unique scientific properties to most of us however its most important property is that it makes your voice sound really funny this happens because helium is a far lighter gas than oxygen so it allows sound waves to travel through it at a higher speed this lightness is the same reason helium is used in balloons since it floats far longer than most other gases while it's actually the second most common element in the universe after hydrogen helium is surprisingly rare on earth it plays a huge role in the functionality of several important scientific and medical machines such as super conductors in MRIs so the fact that helium levels are declining could have a wide-scale effect on the medical industry and our ability to treat diseases but we'll save that for another video when you inhale helium a number of reactions take place within your body the helium itself begins to displace any oxygen in your system resulting in a dizziness and lightheadedness comparable to holding your breath for a very long time however breathing helium can be much more dangerous than not breathing at all while you generally remain alive and conscious for a good couple of minutes without breathing thanks to the oxygen in your blood and lungs helium inhalation can actually make you pass out in a matter of seconds that's because the helium replaces the oxygen in your lungs and bloodstream quickly cutting off oxygen supplies to vital organs such as your brain of course how you're inhaling helium plays a huge role - doing it straight out of a pressurized tank can be really dangerous the intense pressure and speed of delivery means it's possible you could rupture a lung or even give yourself air embolism which occurs when a gas bubble gets into your blood and reaches your brain causing seizures and even strokes as a result it's recommended that if you do decide to breathe in helium you put it in a balloon first and then inhale it how many balloons worth of helium can you inhale before it seriously damages your body the answer to that ranges from person to person some people can inhale several balloons worth of helium and emerged dizzy but unscathed others have died from just one however this is admittedly pretty rare since in most cases you would pass out well before dying at which point you would hopefully begin breathing regular air again and start reoxygenate in your lungs the lethality of helium isn't necessarily related to quantity but more to duration for most people one big pull of a balloon won't have any long-term consequences provided they don't fall unconscious and hit their head on a nearby table or something like that and then they can take several breaths of regular air after however breathing exclusively helium for multiple breaths is very dangerous more than six seconds of helium inhalation will begin to deprive your brain of oxygen and if you continue past this point you'll suffer serious brain damage or even death tragically multiple people have suffered the lethal consequences of helium inhalation in recent years in 2012 a 14 year old girl was hospitalized and later pronounced dead after inhaling a helium balloon at a party with some friends just six years earlier two college students were found dead inside a giant helium balloon in Florida a situation in which they likely quickly fell unconscious and were unable to escape to fresh air due to the concentration of helium as a result people have started taking helium quite seriously a school in Fleming County Kentucky suspended a 13 year old for three days after he was caught inhaling helium from a balloon realistically dying from balloon facilitated helium inhalation is rare but it is not impossible with only two recorded fatalities between the years of 2000 and 2004 so if you find yourself at a birthday party and just can't resist doing your famous Donald Duck impression everyone loves it just be aware that in doing so you'll be depriving yourself of oxygen for a short period of time make sure you sit down so that if you do end up falling unconscious you don't hurt yourself and make sure to take several deep breaths of regular air before you take a hit of the helium if you see someone suffering from a helium overdose try to get them to breathe in fresh air and they should be right as rain shortly after however if they're not able to breathe you should seek medical assistance as soon as possible since not breathing is as the professionals say bad in theory you can inhale 1,000 balloons worth of helium provided you take a break between each one to get your oxygen levels back to normal that said it's probably for the best that you just put down the balloons and avoid breathing helium all together sure it'll make you sound like a cute and cuddly animated character but is that worth the risk be sure to LIKE and subscribe if you enjoyed this video and head on over to the Brainiac youtube channel for more crazy content [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Brainiac

Views: 487,394

Rating: 4.8720279 out of 5

Keywords: Helium, Balloons, Birthday, Chipmunks, Donald Duck, MRI, Superconductor, Oxygen, Inhalation, balloonfest, what happens to your body, brainiac, animated story, animation, animated channel, world records, facts, breathe, how much, helium balloons

Id: uiydxPr0B3U

Length: 5min 42sec (342 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 13 2020