Can the helium from a balloon make u die after sucking it?

Question

Like when u suck your voice gets squeaky, and i heard that if it goes through a different way, u can die.

Answer 1

Breathing helium will be equivalent to afixiation. You will first pass out from lack of oxygen. You could fall and damage your body. And yes, you could die.

Answer 2

You can pass out if you take more than one breath of helium at a time, as others have noted. If you're just sucking on a balloon, you will start breathing regular air while unconscious and revive quickly (unless you hit your head on something on the way down). If you have no way of breathing air after passing out without someone performing some action (like remove a face-piece or a bag over your head), and no one is there to help you, you will die.

Keep in mind, too, that there will be little or no warning that you are about to faint. That very uncomforable feeling that warns you that you need air in an enclosed space or while holding your breath is due to CO2 poisoning *not* oxygen deprivation. Oxygen deprivation just makes you feel light headed *seconds* before you pass out, so you cannot depend on this as a warning to breath air.

Answer 3

Helium dangers
HELIUM INHALATION IS NO LAUGHING MATTER!

Stay Out of That Balloon!The dangers of helium inhalation.
By Daniel Engber
Posted Tuesday, June 13, 2006, at 6:37 PM ET

On June 3, the bodies of two college students were found in a giant helium balloon in Florida. The week before, a 10-year-old in New Jersey collapsed at a birthday party after sucking helium from a balloon. Is helium really that dangerous?

It can be. Breathing 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. Of more concern is the possibility that you'll hurt yourself when you fall down. (The boy in New Jersey bumped his head and needed three stitches.) It's far more dangerous to suck helium out of a pressurized tank: If the gas comes in too quickly, your lungs might burst and hemorrhage.

Death by helium still seems to be quite rare. U.S. Poison Control Centers reported only two fatalities between 2000 and 2004. There's still an outcry from concerned parents whenever helium inhalation makes its way into popular culture. Federal Express had to pull a commercial that depicted the munchkins from The Wizard of Oz sucking balloons to keep their voices at a high pitch. Geoffrey, the Toys "R" Us giraffe, got a slap on the hoof for doing the same.

Answer 4

Helium is a noble gas, it's not chemically active. The only way helium can kill you is by displacing oxygen in your lungs. That happens quickly, so if your cousin has been breathing air for a few minutes after breathing the helium and has suffered no ill effects yet, then she'll be perfectly fine. It's very unusual for people to die from breathing helium, they would have to breathe a lot of it in place of normal air.

Answer 5

The only really you can die when inhaling helium is if you only inhale helium for a few minutes and don't inhale air. Helium is classified as an asphyxiant (cuts off your oxygen flow) similar to if you breathe strictly Nitrogen, you'll suffocate since you're not getting any oxygen to your system to help keep you alive.

A breath or two of helium to make your voice change isn't harmful, but make sure you take a few breaths of air in between to make sure you're getting plenty of air.

Answer 6

For the record, if you try to breathe in a pure atmosphere of anything but oxygen, you will suffocate. However, breathing pure oxygen isn't good for you either, at least when it's under pressure. (Oxygen is actually an acid.)

To answer your question directly: If I understand what you mean by "a different way," swallowing helium will not kill you. Though you might get a bad case of indigestion.

Helium is chemically inert, so it can't really harm you in and of itself. But for safety's sake, remember: Whenever you're breathing helium, you're not breathing oxygen. So don't do it too much or for too long, or you'll be in trouble.

Answer 7

The helium does not contain oxygen, so if you were to try to breathe it continually you would suffocate.

However, taking one or two breaths to freak out other people with the squeaky voice isn't likely to do you any harm. If you start to feel out-of-breath, or dizzy, then don't do it any more.

Answer 8

Yes, if you suck in too much of the helium from the balloon because helium is deadly if you get too much of it.

Answer 9

If you breathe enough of it, you will pass out from lack of O2 to the brain. Deep divers breathe a mixture of He + O2 continuously with no ill effect.