Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Is it harmful to inhale helium, and where does helium come from?

Matt:

Where does helium come from?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- Harry Roberson, Oak Park

Dear Matt:

Is it harmful to inhale helium? The party balloon kit I got from Costco says it's dangerous, but I've been doing it for years, and I have never suffered any ill effects that I am aware of.

-- Arthur Priest, La Mesa

You got the party kit from Costco. You got the warning label from Costco's lawyers. Every manufacturer and retailer fears our infinite capacity for harebrained behavior, thus the proliferation of warning labels. As you've noticed, the occasional brief hit off a helium balloon does no lasting harm. Except to your friends, who have to put up with your Alvin and the Chipmunks routine one more time. In fact, helium is used therapeutically with some breathing disorders and is used in oxygen mixtures for deep-sea divers. So helium plus a sensible, rational human being equals no big deal.

But you don't need a Mensa card to buy a helium balloon kit. This is proved by the reports of people huffing a whole balloonful of helium, passing out, and having seizures. Helium displaces oxygen when you inhale; displace too much oxygen, and you'll pass out. Nature's way of telling you to knock it off.

But if the warning label is on a helium tank, well, now we're talking real trouble. There are several recent reports of kids (mostly) showing off by putting their mouths over the outlet valve of a helium tank, turning it on, and literally blowing out their lungs, drowning in their own blood. Studies have shown that it takes less than half a second to receive a lethal dose of helium from a pressurized tank, so don't think you can flip the valve on and off real fast. It won't work.

So where does helium come from? Natural gas fields in Texas and Wyoming. It's extracted from the gas, then stored in an underground federal facility as a hedge against the coming helium shortage. Well, that's what the government anticipated back in 1960, when Russia was the only other country producing a significant amount of it. So you and I own more than 30 billion cubic feet of helium somewhere under Amarillo. Helium is used by NASA and in research labs, especially labs that work with superconductors.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Issa aide collaborates with Ukrainians

Carlsbad's Tracy Slepcevic, Warrior Mom, and her ties to RFK, Jr.
Next Article

Mang Tomas, banana ketchup barred in San Diego

What will happen to Filipino Christmas here?

Matt:

Where does helium come from?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- Harry Roberson, Oak Park

Dear Matt:

Is it harmful to inhale helium? The party balloon kit I got from Costco says it's dangerous, but I've been doing it for years, and I have never suffered any ill effects that I am aware of.

-- Arthur Priest, La Mesa

You got the party kit from Costco. You got the warning label from Costco's lawyers. Every manufacturer and retailer fears our infinite capacity for harebrained behavior, thus the proliferation of warning labels. As you've noticed, the occasional brief hit off a helium balloon does no lasting harm. Except to your friends, who have to put up with your Alvin and the Chipmunks routine one more time. In fact, helium is used therapeutically with some breathing disorders and is used in oxygen mixtures for deep-sea divers. So helium plus a sensible, rational human being equals no big deal.

But you don't need a Mensa card to buy a helium balloon kit. This is proved by the reports of people huffing a whole balloonful of helium, passing out, and having seizures. Helium displaces oxygen when you inhale; displace too much oxygen, and you'll pass out. Nature's way of telling you to knock it off.

But if the warning label is on a helium tank, well, now we're talking real trouble. There are several recent reports of kids (mostly) showing off by putting their mouths over the outlet valve of a helium tank, turning it on, and literally blowing out their lungs, drowning in their own blood. Studies have shown that it takes less than half a second to receive a lethal dose of helium from a pressurized tank, so don't think you can flip the valve on and off real fast. It won't work.

So where does helium come from? Natural gas fields in Texas and Wyoming. It's extracted from the gas, then stored in an underground federal facility as a hedge against the coming helium shortage. Well, that's what the government anticipated back in 1960, when Russia was the only other country producing a significant amount of it. So you and I own more than 30 billion cubic feet of helium somewhere under Amarillo. Helium is used by NASA and in research labs, especially labs that work with superconductors.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

SD Symphony singer tells what it’s like behind the scenes

Conductor Payare even looks like Mahler
Next Article

Issa aide collaborates with Ukrainians

Carlsbad's Tracy Slepcevic, Warrior Mom, and her ties to RFK, Jr.
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader