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5 answers

Your lungs react differently to it than air.

2007-06-18 13:31:23 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

When helium is at 1 atmosphere of pressure, it is much less dense than air at the same pressure. The fact that the helium in the balloon is pressurized to greater than 1 atmosphere has nothing to do with it, since it quickly equalizes pressure with the surrounding air once it's out of the balloon.

What makes the higher pitch is the lower density of the helium. Your vocal cords are essentially strings stretched across your throat. They vibrate back and forth when air moves over them. The less dense the gas inside your throat, the less resistance the vocal cords have to movement. Helium causes them to vibrate faster than they would if you exhaling air, since the helium is much less dense. Faster vibration means higher frequency, and frequency = pitch.

2007-06-18 13:29:25 · answer #2 · answered by lithiumdeuteride 7 · 1 0

Helium is an inert gas that is lighter than air and can be inhaled briefly without risk of death. Sound is produced by vibration, the movement of air around our vocal chords. Because helium gas is lighter than the usual oxygen/nitrogen blend, it changes the resonant frequency of the human vocal tract, causing a faster vibration and a higher-pitched, cartoon-character sound.

2007-06-18 13:27:41 · answer #3 · answered by TylorS 2 · 3 0

So your vocal chords create vibrations that go through the air in your throat and out in the form of a sound. When you swallow helium it fills your throat with lighter air so the sound travels faster resulting in a higher pitch.

2007-06-18 13:27:45 · answer #4 · answered by alwaysmoose 7 · 1 1

It makes your voice sound funny because you are putting a gas into you vocal chords and your vocal chords get messed up and have that hight pitch for a litle bit

2007-06-18 13:27:35 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0 2

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