Helium Ballons?

Question

What makes your voice change when you suck in helium from ballons?

Answer 1

When you talk without helium in your lungs, i.e., when you talk by exhaling normal air, your voice has a certain pitch range. That range is determined in part by the density of that air you're exhaling. The higher the density of that air, the lower is the pitch and the faster is the speed of sound, so if you talk while exhaling helium, which has less density (less mass per unit of volume) than air (which is about 78% nitrogen), the pitch rises.

Here's what the March 1987 edition of Scientific American says in an article titled "Sopranos of the Skies":

When a soprano sings a high C, her vocal cords actually produce a broad band of frequencies. . . . If [she] inhales helium, her voice seems to rise in pitch not because her vocal cords vibrate faster in the less dense atmosphere (they do, but only slightly); rather, because sound travels almost twice as fast through helium as it does through nitrogen, the acoustic properties of the vocal tract change so that it resonates with and amplifies higher-frequency tones.

Answer 2

To find the answer to your question, we reduced it down to the most essential words and typed "helium voice" into the search box of several different search engines.
Browsing through the results of a Google search, we came across a very intriguing title: "Inhaling Helium Can Cause More Than a Funny Voice." It tells the story of a healthy 13-year-old boy who suffered a cerebral gas embolism after inhaling helium from a pressurized tank at a party. A word to the wise: Pressurized, industrial tanks are not for human consumption! Repeated inhalation of helium can hinder your ability to breathe. Yikes. 'Nuff said.

Undaunted, we pressed on. The column titled "Squeaky voice & helium" came from an archive called Ask a Scientist, offered by Newton, a resource for science educators. Here's what we learned:

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.

Next, we started looking for a sound file that featured a voice distorted by helium. Along the way we found a technical article on the physics of "The Helium 'Donald Duck' Effect," but not much sign of a sound file.

Finally, Dominique, an astute Yahoo! surfer, helped us locate LBJ & the Helium Filled Astronaut, a hilarious story from NPR's Lost and Found Sound archive that you can read, or, better yet, listen to.

Answer 3

Everyone already pretty much has answered your question.

I just wanted to put in my 2 cents worth that you should be VERY VERY CAREFUL when doing this. Yeah, it's hilarious but keep in mind, you're breathing pure helium, not oxygen. Asphyxiation is quite possible and has happened unfortunately.

Yes, deep sea divers breathe helium, but it's not just that. They mix it with O2 to prevent suffocation. They breathe this mixture to reduce the possibility of nitrogen narcosis.

Phurface.

Answer 4

i'm no longer able to tell you precisely why, yet i provides you a hypothesis. the undeniable fact that the balloon is taped to the floor makes all the version. once you throw the ball into the air, the only forces performing on that's gravety and the air around it, the place as, the balloon has one greater stress, the bus. once you're making a left turn, the actual bus is moving to the left, hence, the (we could call it the fulcrum) of the baloon is moving to the left. even regardless of the undeniable fact that, the air around the balloon has no longer moved as much as velocity yet, so that's pushing against the balloon and struggling with it from moving left with its fulcrum that's taped to the bus. now, that's smart for the wonderful and left turns, now, how correct to the acceleration and deceleration. i've got self assurance that what got here approximately to the balloon once you sped up and braked had lots to do with air stress. on condition that helium is lighter than air, and the balloon is lighter than air, air has an extremely huge place as to the place the balloon is going. that's a risk that the air contemporary interior the bus traveled in a around action, hence, wile the air interior the right of the bus replaced into moving to the lower back (because of the fact that's not going an identical velocity because of the fact the bus yet wile its accelerating) the air on the backside may be thrust forward, hence pushing the balloon forward. yet, as quickly as the air catches as much as the value of the bus, the air then restricts the balloon from moving forward, wile the fulcrum is being thrust foward from being taped to the bus. and an identical theory yet in opposite for the breaking. now, directly to the balls. sine the balls can decrease by way of air lots greater beneficial than the balloons can, they're effected much less. once you throw them up, they're no longer linked to the bus in a physics experience. hence, if the bus strikes, they do no longer, they proceed on their unique direction. so, think of of it this type, in case you threw up the ball wile the bus replaced into moving at 50mph, then the bus at once went to 0mph (sure, i comprehend thats no longer a risk, and you will possibly all die), the ball might proceed at 50mph, till it hit some thing that could end it (which incorporate a seat lower back or the wind sheild.) wish that helps!!

Answer 5

Because helium is such a very light gas, it offers less resistance to your vocal cords as they vibrate, so they vibrate faster and you sound like a cartoon character!