• Question: Why does ur voice sound funny, when you inhale helium from a ballon?

    Asked by melissamartin123 to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 20 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by annelouise372.
    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi Melissa and annelouise. Sound is your vocal cords vibrating air, and the pitch of the sound is the frequency of the vibration. Your vocal cords are used to vibrating air, so when they have the less dense helium to work with, they vibrate at a different frequency.

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      It’s all to do with its density and affecting your vocal cords…
      Helium is lighter than air, so your voice (sound waves) can travel faster and appear higher pitched..

      If you inhale argon – denser than air your voice sounds lower! so the reverse becomes true. sound waves traveling slower – lower pitched….

      And yes I do still do this…. iTS HILARIOUS! hehe 🙂

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      Hahaha – its so funny!! I’m glad Julia does it too…makes me feel legitamised in my childlike behaviour! 🙂

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      Hi melissa and annelouise!! LOVE that Julia and Amy have confessed to still loving to play with helium. Me, too – its super fun! The others have hit it spot on. Sounds are generated by the back and forth vibrations of molecules (including air, liquid, or solids). You can think about when you knock on a door. If you are knocking it sounds higher pitched, traveling through light air, than it does when you are on the other side of the door where the sound has traveled through the solid door (try it out!). Different molecular weights for air molecules do the same thing!! As Julia has pointed out, Helium is less dense so sounds are higher pitched traveling through it, and argon is higher density so sounds are lower pitched. I’ve never tried inhaling argon though, that sounds pretty wild!

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