Helium In Place Of Co2

[altstart]

The peaceful pill handbook by Dr Philip Nitschke has a section devoted to Helium being used to achieve euthanasia. I believe In response to the publication of this book all Balloon gas ie Helium sold in Australia now has 10% Oxygen mixed with the gas to prevent it causing death. If your Helium has 10% Oxygen it would not be an inert substance and could cause an infection in your beer. Food for thought.
Cheers Altstart

 

[MHB]

This idea simply isn't going to work for two very good reasons

First, look at the solubility of the two gases, CO₂ at O⁰C and 1 atmosphere is ~3.4 g/L, He on the other hand is ~0.0017 g/L so it's only 5/10,000 as soluble.

Secondly, even if your beer was fully cask conditioned and had the right amount of dissolved CO₂ as soon as you started to empty the keg the beer would start to go flat. One of the quirks of gas law is that each gas basically ignores all the others; the fizz would leave the beer at the same rate as if the keg was just being emptied without any gas pushing it.

This and few points raised in previous posts should be enough to convince anyone that this is not a good idea!

MHB

 

[Housecat]

excellent explanation mhb.
i won't be wasting my time on this as health effects are unknown and my beer won't be gassed up.

thanks all for your replies

HC

 

[Feldon]

My real concern was what you pointed out about ingesting Helium along with alcohol. I couldn't find anything on that and am actually concerned about that.

"Doctors around Australia are concerned about the health risk associated with people inhaling helium. This is a particular problem when people are inebriated and their system is already contending with an outside influence."

(Sourced from : www.partyplus.com.au/Articles-and-Resources/Articles-and-Resources/Helium-inhalation-its-no-laughing-matter.asp [accessed 15 Aug 2011].

 

[joshuahardie]

Damn,

I wanted to ask if it was food grade Helium
:lol:
see if I could start a fight



What no takers

 

[pk.sax]

"Doctors around Australia are concerned about the health risk associated with people inhaling helium. This is a particular problem when people are inebriated and their system is already contending with an outside influence."

(Sourced from : www.partyplus.com.au/Articles-and-Resources/Articles-and-Resources/Helium-inhalation-its-no-laughing-matter.asp [accessed 15 Aug 2011].

Ah.. ic.. thats all. Yes, same for any activity where the body ingests and retains lighter than O2 gases. I suppose they should have some Residual Helium calculators for funnymen .... 24 hours rest required after 2 minutes of squeakiness

From my limited personal knowledge/experience about it though, the link between alcohol itself and that is kinda weak. Its when you are already suffering from multiple things, maybe didn't eat properly that day, have a cold etc (Well, ... OK.. inebriation above a point is pretty debilitating too). then subjecting yourself to things like this can push you over the limit.

I suppose, Squeak in moderation is the moral of the story.. haha.

PS: I AM NOT A DOCTOR

PPS: MHB... Food for thought.... Disregarding asphyxation etc... If the gas being pumped into the cylinder was a mixture of CO2 & Helium, the difference in solubilities of CO2 & He would cause a greater proportion of CO2 to remain in solution with minimal CO2 being in the mixture hooked up.

aka, refer to solubility of O2 in water wrt solubility of N2 and the fact that as a %, greater amount of air dissolved in water is O2 than its corresponding % in atmospheric air. Now, if there was a cheap source for Helium one squirt of CO2 for 10 of Helium or something like that....

 

[Feldon]

I thought the point they are making is that if you pass out through asphyxia, and are pissed as well, it is going to be more difficult to revive you compared to a sober person.

 

[Malted]

Maybe this is why CAMRA don't want additional CO2 in their beer because they are scared of asphyxiation?



As if intoxification and asphyxiation aren't enough, why not add flamability...

Hydrogen Beer in Japan

Beer with fizz produced by hydrogen gas rather carbon dioxide became popular at some bars in Tokyo in the late 1990s. Hydrogen, like helium, causes people that breath it to talk in a high voice. It also is flammable. A popular activity at bars among hydrogen beer drinks was to talk funny and shoot cigarette-ignited blue flames from the mouths.

Some bars even sponsored flame-throwing competitions. One man drank 15 bottles of beer and produced a massive ball of fire but lost the contents because the flame was deemed low quality, The man was so outraged he hurled blue fireballs at one of the judges, singing her eyes and burning off her eyebrows and eyelashes. In the process of getting thrown of the bar the man swallowed a burning cigarette which caused the hydrogen in his body to explode, burning his stomach and damaging is esophagus and larynx to such a degree he was unable to talk.
http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemi...mp;subcatid=124

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

Just in case any of wanted to know why helium has the potential to kill you from in breathing it I'll explain.

Our body doesn't actually breath to get more oxygen into our lungs/ bloodstream we actually breath to get carbon dioxide out of our bloodstream. So when we inhale too much helium the bodies natural response is 'hey I don't detect much Co2 so you don't have to breath' and when that happens you pass out and then drift off to, well, death.

So think of this as a bit of heads up because there are people who die from doing this.

But even though I know this I still suck down a ballon or 2 for a laugh.

Farside

 

[ekul]

Just in case any of wanted to know why helium has the potential to kill you from in breathing it I'll explain.

Our body doesn't actually breath to get more oxygen into our lungs/ bloodstream we actually breath to get carbon dioxide out of our bloodstream. So when we inhale too much helium the bodies natural response is 'hey I don't detect much Co2 so you don't have to breath' and when that happens you pass out and then drift off to, well, death.

So think of this as a bit of heads up because there are people who die from doing this.

But even though I know this I still suck down a ballon or 2 for a laugh.

Farside

I'm not 100% sure but i think this is why pure oxygen kills you. Your body sees that your oxygen levels are incredibly high so you don't need to breathe, meanwhile your CO2 levels are through the roof and you die.



I think helium kills people because some people will breathe in a breath of He, talk funny, breathe in aanother breath of He, talk funny, breathe in another breathe of He etc etc until they haven't actually had any air for a minute or two. I've seen people black out from this before (as well as people making cream h34r: ).

 

[Supra-Jim]

Yeah Farsideofcrazy has it.

A few years ago Dr Karl (the Triple J one not the Neighbours one) inhaled too much helium on TV (I think it was the Kerri-Anne show). There is a link below to him recounting his experience and why/how we breathe.

http://www.drkarl.com/blog/karls-blog/2010-Dec

Cheers SJ

 

[katzke]

What about helium in dive mix? Remember from the old days of Jacques Cousteau and the deep dive bell. The divers sounded funny because of the Helium (and the French accents). It may have something to do with the depth and the decompression time that makes it safe.

 

[Supra-Jim]

Hi Katzke,

Here is an explaination (nabbed from here: http://www.pa.msu.edu/sciencet/ask_st/082593.html)


Helium is used in scuba tanks to dilute oxygen. Why helium? First, it is chemically inert, that is to say, it does not participate in chemical reactions. Second, helium is much less soluble in water than many other gases, such as nitrogen. The low solubility means it does not enter the blood stream, even under pressures commonly experienced by deep sea divers.
Under water, a scuba diver is subjected to added pressure. In shallow water the pressure difference is not so great, and one can simply use compressed air to breathe. However, at a depth of 300 feet, a diver experiences nearly 10 times normal atmospheric pressure. Under these conditions, breathing compressed air can be harmful. The increased pressure requires an inert gas to be used to dilute oxygen.

Oxygen is essential for breathing, above and beneath the surface. However, one can get too much of it. Under high pressures, greater amounts of oxygen enter into the bloodstream. If the concentration becomes too high, oxygen poisoning can result, with symptoms that include confusion, impaired vision and nausea. So, under high pressures, oxygen must be diluted with some other gas.

Nitrogen is very abundant and relatively inert, but it cannot be used to dilute oxygen in scuba tanks. At the elevated pressures experienced by divers, larger amounts of nitrogen will dissolve in the blood causing nitrogen narcosis. Dissolved nitrogen also can cause a painful condition, called "the bends" if a diver makes too rapid an ascent. As the pressure decreases, the dissolved gas can form bubbles that can stop circulation in capillaries and damage the nervous system.

 

[menoetes]

I don't know if this is a hoax or not but here's a vid of some Germans reviewing a Helium beer. An American company called Berkshire Brewing claim to make a Helium IPA too.

Helium Beer Vid

It's pretty funny watching them lose it though...

 

[Goose]

Sorry to be a party poopper but inhaling helium, particularly while consuming alcohol, can cause asphyxia and death. If that should occur there would probably be a manslaughter charge laid against the person who made/supplied the beer.

same applies for CO2 if its neat

helium should be fine for dispensing carbonated beer. I've done similar when my co2 ran out and used n2 to dispense with no issues.

 

[crowmanz]

I don't know if this is a hoax or not but here's a vid of some Germans reviewing a Helium beer.

I'm pretty sure it is a April fools day prank, however the German guys using the helium is hilarious. Such a serious language then the funny squeaky high pitched German kicks in.

 

[klangers]

It would taste rather sweet as you wouldn't get the carbonic acid from the dissolved CO2.

Sweet, flat beer.

 

[MHB]

I don't know if this is a hoax or not but here's a vid of some Germans reviewing a Helium beer. An American company called Berkshire Brewing claim to make a Helium IPA too.

Helium Beer Vid

It's pretty funny watching them lose it though...

Yes it's a hoax, funny as but still a hoax.
You simply cant get enough He dissolved in beer for it to affect the way you talk, It has to be in your voice box and throat not your gut for that to happen.
Mark

 

[Bribie G]

I'm pretty sure it is a April fools day prank, however the German guys using the helium is hilarious. Such a serious language then the funny squeaky high pitched German kicks in.

ve haf vays of making you squawk.

 

[butisitart]

How would drinking helium "carbed" beer lead to one having a squeaky voice?

you clearly had a sheltered childhood .
my last falsetto was in the labour ward, trying to convince a nurse to turn up the gas cos it had no effect on the wife. the wife never actually got to try it.

the german helium vid (above) is a screamer