Helium Gas Safety Data Sheet From Bounce Time

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Helium Gas Safety & Data Sheet

Helium Inhalation
It's No Laughing Matter.....

Have you ever been to a party where someone has inhaled helium to sound like Donald Duck? If so they have probably put their life at risk.

Evidence has proven that the inhalation of helium can be fatal, yet thousands of partygoers continue to inhale helium thinking it to be incredibly funny rather than life threatening. The inhalation of helium cuts off a persons supply of oxygen and can cause dizziness, unconsciousness and ultimately death!

Doctors 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.

According to a consultant occupational health physician People have not yet realised the extreme danger associated with helium inhalation. If the concentration of oxygen is decreased below 18% within the human body, symptoms and signs of asphyxia can occur. Helium gas can totally displace the available oxygen and if this is maintained for even a few seconds, asphyxia and death can and will occur.

In 1989 fifteen-year-old Michelle Moreno from Texas died from helium inhalation at a friends party. Her death caused major headlines in the United States regarding the dangers of helium inhalation. In Australia, Kristi Brash from Victoria had a near death experience when she appeared to freeze and turn blue after inhaling the entire contents of a balloon. Kristi fell motionless to the floor but luckily regained consciousness after a few minutes Kristi was rushed to hospital and after examination she appeared to be fine although any long-term effects of the inhalation are yet to be determined.

Comedy television and radio programmes often use helium as a device to get laughs only recently I have witnessed Jonathon Ross on his Friday night show doing just that. This portrays helium inhalation as a fun, safe practice when, in effect, it is deadly. Public figures are influential in the minds of the public and they need to realise that they could either die from helium use or be indirectly responsible for the death of another.

Unfortunately with people continuing to ignore the dangers of this potentially lethal practice, it is a difficult task to educate the public that helium inhalation is no laughing matter!

Helium General Information
Categories Class: Inert Gases Period: 1 IUPAC group: 18 Traditional: 0	History Discovered in: 1868 by Stevenson & Janssen Origin of name: Greek: helios, (the sun) Historical or alternate name:
Common natural occurrences Atmosphere, 1 part in 200,000; radioactive minerals as a decay product	Description Colorless, odorless gas; nonreactive chemically.
Abundances Atmosphere: 5.2 ppm Primitive mantle: ~0.0 ppm Sea water: 7.2e-6 ppm Metallic meteorite: 56000.0 ppm Continental crust: 0.008 ppm Solar photosphere: 10.8 log of abundance Oceanic crust: ~0.0 ppm Solar system: 2.180E+9 relative to Si=1.0e6	Hazards and Tolerances Hazards Inert nonflammable gas. Asphyxiant.. Human daily limits Lower: Upper:0.95

Helium Physical Properties

Transitional Data

State: Gas
Density: 0.1785 g/L

Molar enthalpy

Atomization: 0.0 kJ mol-1
Fusion: 0.021 kJ mol-1
Vaporization: 0.082 kJ mol-1

Transition points

Melting point: 0.95 K
Boiling point: 4.22 K
Critical temperature: 5.19 K

Molar properties

Atomic weight: 4.002602 g/mole
Molar volume: 19.61 cm3 mol-1

Crystal structure sequence

body-centered-cubic -> hexagonal-close-packed -> face-centered-cubic with increasing pressure

Thermodynamics

State: gas
- Enthalpy 0
- Gibbs function 0
- Entropy 126.150
- Heat Capacity 20.786

Miscellaneous physical

Electrical resistivity: Âµ-ohms/cm
Debye temperature: K
Thermal conductivity: 0.155 W / m / K
Coefficient of linear expansion: Coef. per K
Mass magnetic susceptibility: -5.9e-9
X-ray diffraction mass absorption coefficients:
- CuK: 0.383 (Âµ/p)/cm2 g-1
- MoK: 0.207 (Âµ/p)/cm2 g-1

Helium Chemical Properties

Chemical basics:

Oxidation states: 0
Molecular wt: 4.002602 g/mole

Radii

Covalent: pm
Atomic: 128 pm
Van der Waals: 122 pm

Ions:

Covalent bonds

Bond:

Radius

Energy

Effective nuclear charge

Slater: 1.70
Clementi: 1.69
Froese-Fischer: 1.62

Electronegativity

Pauling:
Allred-Rochow:

Standard reactions

oxidation

reduction

potential

Helium Nuclear Properties
Isotopes
Number of isotopes: Known 5 Listed 2	Isotope range: Known 3 - 8 Listed 3 - 4
Nuclide 3 % Occ.:Natural 0.000138% Mossbauer NRA: Nuclear spin/Quantum no.: 1/2 Radioisotopes: Half-life: Decay mode: Source: Notes	Nuclide 4 % Occ.:Natural 99.999862% Mossbauer NRA: Nuclear spin/Quantum no.: Radioisotopes: Half-life: Decay mode: Source: Notes
Thermal neutron capture Isotope Cross-section 0.007 barns
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Nuclide: 3 Absolute sensitivity: 5.75e-7 1H=1.0 Relative sensitivity: 0.44 1H=1.0 Receptivity: 0.00326 13C=1.0 Magnetogyric ratio: -20.378e7 rad / T / s Quadropole moment: m2 Frequency: 76.178 MHz Reference:

Helium Energy Properties

Electrons

Ground state electron configuration: 1s2
Electron affinity: -21 kJ mol-1
Filling orbitals:

Ionization energies

Ionization level
He -> He+

Ionization potential
2372.3

Atomic energy levels

Orbital
ns

Energy
3.7516

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