the opposite of helium....sulfur hexaflouride

[JasonScandopolous]

I'm sure the reason is that it's incredibly toxic, and isn't something that should be encouraged... lol... breathing inert gasses is better than breathing in some other things, but I doubt that it is safe. Could be wrong though.

[ElDucky]

Originally Posted by Gentle Giant

Here's a follow-up question:

Apparently the helium that is held in helium tanks is rather pure - I mean, there's hardly any oxygen in it. I know because if I draw a second breath of helium without catching up on "regular" air between, I get light-headed. It seems to me that the helium tank people should provide oxygenated helium for "common people" usage. It would mean more fun, as one could breathe it continuously.

So why don't they?

Well, the helium would separate inside the container, so you'd end up with a container partially filled with pure helium. You could hook up a tank of helium and one of oxygen and breath that.

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by JasonScandopolous

I'm sure the reason is that it's incredibly toxic, and isn't something that should be encouraged... lol... breathing inert gasses is better than breathing in some other things, but I doubt that it is safe. Could be wrong though.

I think there's a reason it's called "inert".

As I understand it, it takes a whole lot of interfering (extreme heat or lack thereof, extreme air pressure, etc.) for helium to react chemically with anything.

[Pseudolus]

Originally Posted by Gentle Giant

So why don't they?

Why don't they market some sort of helium/non-helium mixture as "hey kids! this is safe to breathe!"? Couldn't possibly tell you.

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by Pseudolus

Why don't they market some sort of helium/non-helium mixture as "hey kids! this is safe to breathe!"? Couldn't possibly tell you.

Well, if its safe to breathe, what's the big deal? Are kids even allowed to purchase helium in tank form?

[Pseudolus]

I wouldn't expect that anything that contains a suitably-fun level of helium is perfectly safe. And the contest of marginal additional revenue vs. marginal additional risk seems heavily one-sided.

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by Pseudolus

I wouldn't expect that anything that contains a suitably-fun level of helium is perfectly safe. And the contest of marginal additional revenue vs. marginal additional risk seems heavily one-sided.

Aside from the lack of oxygen in the typical tank, though, what is unsafe about helium? As I mentioned above, it's completely inert.

[Pseudolus]

There may be a purity issue (do any other gases "ride along" with the helium as typically sold?), but, yeah, I would think it's pretty much the "lack of oxygen" thing.

Selling something meant for people to breathe, into their, you know, lungs, is taking on huge potential liability. Heck, I would be cautious about owning a company that bottled plain old regular air and told people "hey, breathe this!". I know scuba and medical-oxygen companies exist, and I would guess that they have much more expensive quality control, licensing, etc., than a typical industrial helium producer - and they can do this and stay in business because there's a big enough market willing to pay big enough bucks for their product. I don't think that's there for the proposed "make your voice sound funny" product.

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by Pseudolus

I know scuba and medical-oxygen companies exist, and I would guess that they have much more expensive quality control, licensing, etc., than a typical industrial helium producer - and they can do this and stay in business because there's a big enough market willing to pay big enough bucks for their product. I don't think that's there for the proposed "make your voice sound funny" product.

I guess I agree. For the "make your voice higher / lower" market, it's probably a whole lot more cost efficient to sell a microphone with a sound-effects chip.

[Pseudolus]

Or a 99-cent app. Or a free-app with viruses.... I mean ads.