Why does inhaling Helium makes your voice thin ?

Question

i really don;t get this... what happens when you inhail Helium ?

Answer 1

Ignore those first four answers. This is always covered in college physics classes, but apparently not in other places. Drew got some of it, but it isn't just density or speed, it's also the size of the atoms.

Because the helium molecules are so small (and faster than air molecules), each molecule travels farther before hitting another one (because they are more likely to pass by each other).

The average distance between collisions (the "mean free path", MFP) effects the resonance of a chamber. A large chamber like a cello resonants at a lower frequency. And a small chamber (like a violin) resonants at a higher frequency.

So air, with shorter MFPs, makes your voicebox is acoustically bigger (more MFPs across). Helium makes your voicebox acoustically smaller (fewer MFPs across) and smaller chambers produce higher sounds. Like singing in the shower instead of a concert hall - higher frequencies resonant in a smaller chamber.

The longer distance traveled by helium between collisions also make it carry heat farther, faster. Deep divers notice this with helium/oxygen mixs. They get colder quicker than on straight air.

Answer 2

Hello there. reathing in pure helium deprives the body of oxygen, as if you were holding your breath. If you couldn't breathe at all, you'd start to die in minutes—as soon as your body exhausted the supply of oxygen stored in the blood. But helium speeds up this process: When the gas fills your lungs, it creates a diffusion gradient that washes out the oxygen. In other words, each breath of helium you take sucks more oxygen out of your system. After inhaling helium, the body's oxygen level can plummet to a hazardous level in a matter of seconds. You don't have to worry about fatal asphyxiation if you're sucking from a helium balloon at a party. At worst you'll keep going until you get lightheaded and pass out—at which point you'll stop inhaling helium and your body's oxygen levels will return to normal. Like anything, its dangerous to inhale large amounts of anything. Helium is a "lighter" gas that will be harmful if you inhale a party full of helium. ONE THING TO NEVER DO IS COUGH WITH A CHEST FULL OF HELIUM!

Answer 3

First off, inhaling a little helium probably won't kill you but it isn't something that's really great to do in large quantities (aka, it can actually cause injury and/or death if done to excess).

Sound is a vibration/pressure wave through a medium. Hence, in water sound travels faster and in air sound travels slower, etc. We produce sound through our vocal chords. The properties of helium differ from the gases that usually pass through our sound producing mechanisms so that the resonant frequency of the sound produced is altered when helium is present.

And, that's how you get a squeaky sounding voice...more or less.

Answer 4

A simple answer: Helium is less dense than normal air, and therefore the speed of sound is higher. This changes the resonances of your vocal track, shifting the frequencies higher. This gives your voice that squeaky 'Donald Duck' effect. Conversely, if you were to inhale a more dense gas, the resonance frequency of your vocal tract would be shifted lower.

See this page for a more detailed explanation:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/PHYSICS_!/SPEECH_HELIUM/speech.html

Also, be aware of the dangers of inhaling helium, especially from a higher pressure tank.

http://www.cganet.com/N2O/helium_safety.htm

Answer 5

Helium is lighter than air, that makes the speed of sound higher, which increases the pitch of the sound.

Answer 6

First remember that He, Helium is inert, a noble gas, and thus doesn't chemically react with other elements, because it has a full valence electron shell (of electrons). It's really more physics and chemistry, and it vibrates your vocal chords. There is no chemical reaction here at all.

Answer 7

For whatever reason it paralizes your vocal cords temporarily.