Why does helium make your voice sound funny?
Have you read the article about helium on Let’s Learn?
Here’s a quick summary to get you up to speed on the main characteristic of helium that we need to know to answer this infamous question.
Helium is super light! In fact, it’s the second lightest element in the whole universe. This means that it’s lighter than oxygen and nitrogen. Cool!
Quick experiment:
Put one hand on your throat and the other in front of your mouth. Now take a deep breath and make an “ooooh” sound when you exhale.
The hand on your throat felt a vibration when you made the “oooh” sound, and the other one felt warm air.
The air you felt comprises approximately 78% nitrogen, 26% oxygen and 4% carbon dioxide.
What you just felt is the base point of the answer to this question.
So, why does helium make your voice sound funny?
It all starts in the Larynx, a funky little organ in our necks, also known as a voice box. There are muscles called vocal cords within your voice box that stretch across the voice box like rubber bands. Every time you speak, you push air from your lungs to your vocal cords, causing them to vibrate. These vibrations make the sound otherwise known as your voice!
This is where the helium comes in.
Helium is much lighter than oxygen or nitrogen. This causes the sound to travel twice as fast through helium than through normal air!
This means when you suck all that helium out of a birthday balloon; your vocal cords are moving more than twice their average speed!
Minimeba:
Remember, helium is all good clean fun in small quantities. When you breathe in the helium, it also means that your lungs aren’t getting in all the oxygen they need! As we learnt in the respiratory article, your lungs need oxygen so that your blood can transport it to the rest of your body.
Read more about the respiratory system on Let’s Learn!
Resource: https://youtu.be/v6z-ziQHa2E
Helium Voice
Helium Voice
Why does helium make your voice sound funny?
Have you read the article about helium on Let’s Discover?
Here’s a quick summary to get you up to speed on the main characteristic of helium that we need to know to answer this infamous question.
Helium is super light!
In fact, it’s the second lightest element in the whole universe.
This means that it’s lighter than oxygen and nitrogen.
Cool!
Quick experiment:
Put one hand on your throat and the other in front of your mouth. Now take a deep breath and make an “ooooh” sound when you exhale.
The hand on your throat felt a vibration when you made the “oooh” sound, and the other one felt warm air.
The air you felt comprises approximately 78% nitrogen, 26% oxygen and 4% carbon dioxide.
What you just felt is the base point of the answer to this question.
So, why does helium make your voice sound funny?
It all starts in the Larynx, a funky little organ in our necks, also known as a voice box.
There are muscles called vocal cords within your voice box that stretch across the voice box like rubber bands.
Every time you speak, you push air from your lungs to your vocal cords, causing them to vibrate.
These vibrations make the sound otherwise known as your voice!
This is where the helium comes in.
Helium is much lighter than oxygen or nitrogen.
This causes the sound to travel twice as fast through helium than through normal air.
This means when you suck all that helium out of a birthday balloon; your vocal cords are moving more than twice their average speed!
Read more about the respiratory system on Let’s Discover!
Helium Voice
Why does helium make your voice sound funny?
Have you read the article about helium on Let’s Discover?
Here’s a quick summary to get you up to speed on the main characteristic of helium that we need to know to answer this infamous question.
Helium is super light!
In fact, it’s the second lightest element in the whole universe.
This means that it’s lighter than oxygen and nitrogen.
Cool!
Quick experiment:
Put one hand on your throat and the other in front of your mouth. Now take a deep breath and make an “ooooh” sound when you exhale.
The hand on your throat felt a vibration when you made the “oooh” sound, and the other one felt warm air.
The air you felt comprises approximately 78% nitrogen, 26% oxygen and 4% carbon dioxide.
What you just felt is the base point of the answer to this question.
So, why does helium make your voice sound funny?
It all starts in the Larynx, a funky little organ in our necks, also known as a voice box.
There are muscles called vocal cords within your voice box that stretch across the voice box like rubber bands.
Every time you speak, you push air from your lungs to your vocal cords, causing them to vibrate.
These vibrations make the sound otherwise known as your voice!
This is where the helium comes in.
Helium is much lighter than oxygen or nitrogen.
This causes the sound to travel twice as fast through helium than through normal air.
This means when you suck all that helium out of a birthday balloon; your vocal cords are moving more than twice their average speed!
Read more about the respiratory system on Let’s Discover!
