I have been inflating with air for a while now, with no issues, but am wanting to try helium. Has anyone done this the "usual" way and is there anything I should be aware of? Does it feel better/worse/indifferent?
Thanks.
Inflation with helium...
Sat, 02/12/2011 - 21:34
#1
Inflation with helium...
Sun, 02/13/2011 - 09:15
#3
RenegadeKamui
To add to the above, inflating yourself with helium in real life will not allow you to float. It's just a more expensive way to flirt with death.
Sun, 02/13/2011 - 14:59
#4
1) I realise I will not float. I am fully aware of the laws of physics.
2) Helium is an inert gas, so I fail to see how it's any more dangerous than air.
What i wanted to know was:
1) Is there a greater risk of some sort of unwanted reaction as opposed to using air.
2) If anyone has done it, does it feel any different or shall I stick to air?
Thanks for any constructive answers.
Sun, 02/13/2011 - 15:33
#5
If you know the laws of physics, then you wouldn't be asking this question. You may know that helium is used in place of nitrogen for hyperbaric purposes, such as deep sea diving. Divers still have oxygen in their mix, which you would not have if you simply run out to iParty and buy a helium tank.
And since you intend to do inflation with this, you're screwing around with the law of partial pressures, and thus increase your chances of suffering an embolism.
Since the only reason you want to tinker with helium is its use in real balloons  and generating any notable lift at all requires a volume significantly greater than your body  why play in traffic?
Sun, 02/13/2011 - 19:52
#6
Thanks for the reply klaeresource. I am familiar with the laws of physics in general, not the specific application to the human body, and definately not "deep sea diving"..
The only reaons I wanted to try helium is because it is a bit kinkier than air....similar to maybe....um...latex over cotton? Both can create attractive outfits, but one is a bit sexier than the other.
I guess I will stick to air then!
Thanks again.
Mon, 02/14/2011 - 07:32
#7
blowup_boy
Slap a sticker on your air pump that says Helium and pretend.
Otherwise, you're just flirting with danger.
Inflating can be dangerous as it is. As people said, with no real effect, why even bother?
We're not slapping you down or thinking you are stupid, we're just trying to look out for someone in the community who might hurt themselves.
Personally, I'll just stick to my inflatable suits thank you very much.
Mon, 02/14/2011 - 09:09
#8
Actual pure helium isn't safe if inhaled but is also fairly obscure, expensive and hard to obtain compared to balloon gas, which is a mixture of helium and air. Obviously the fact that it's a mixture means the oxygen is lower, so it's not ideal, but you can rebreathe exhaled air for a short period without harm and that's high in carbon dioxide, which is actively dangerous. Helium's dangerous because of displacement.
There is a difference though i've never tried it, and doing it anally should be fine for the same reason helium-oxygen mixtures are used in diving - it's almost insoluble. It won't enter the bloodstream or get to the lungs that way.
It does interest me, for two reasons. One is that it moves faster than air, so inflation might be quicker. The other is that though it obviously won't make a difference to the buoyancy of your body unless you happen to live on Enceladus (see my upcoming story incidentally), i wonder if it would make a difference to the buoyancy of your internal organs within your abdominal cavity, because they seem to be potentially quite light compared to the masses of bone, muscle and body fluid which makes up the rest of your body. So while you wouldn't float, maybe your stomach and intestines would, sort of. I also wonder if that's dangerous but i think it can't be because it would happen underwater anyway.
Thu, 07/11/2013 - 05:48
#9
hi looking for someone who wanna have a inflation game whit me.
Rules
1. if u will expand me you can use air, helium, water or an other who can inflate me
2. in the game we most be inflate and grow like a balloon
3. if we inflate whit helium maybe we can have a fly race too. hope someone reply so we can see who win ;)
Thu, 07/11/2013 - 05:51
#10
i will inflate u whit helium maybe we can fly together
Fri, 07/12/2013 - 03:03
#11
Seeing as nobody has said it already. Helium is under high pressure. High pressure anything entering the human body will cause permanent damage, probably death.
Mon, 07/15/2013 - 16:37
#12
Crap, double post.
Mon, 07/15/2013 - 16:36
#13
It does not feel any different than air, and unless you have a regulator system to bring the pressure down to just a few psi, I would not recommend doing it. If you go out and buy a party helium tank, it just has a simple screw valve to control the flow, not very reliable or safe if you are going to pumping this into your body.
I've done it, it's not worth the expense involved.
Fri, 07/19/2013 - 02:27
#14
The answer is, don't inflate whether with air, helium or anything else. Use a balloon, bag or suit and have fun pretending.
Mucus membranes are delicate. Mucus membranes are easy to pierce and force air into spaces where blood circulates. Gas bubbles in the blood can cause loss of limb, brain damage or death. Think 'the bends' for the short hand on what goes wrong when gases get in places the body can't tolerate.
Doctors use pressure measured in water column inches for laparoscopic ["keyhole"] surgery when inflating the abdominal cavity. 1 inch of water column pressure [4 °C] = 0.036 127 291 827 pound/square inch, The reason they use such low pressures is increasing abdominal pressure presses on the heart and lungs,. Long before your guts may burst, your heart can stop or your lungs will not be able to take in air.
Mythbusters tested the bursting pressure of a pig stomach for one myth [pigs are good models for human anatomy]. They found the pig stomach would burst around 4 to 5 psi. 4 to 5 psi is about 1/2 of what you'd inflate a basket ball to meet NBA play standards. You can do that with a bicycle pump.
Compressed gas tanks can run up to thousands of psi. Several thousand psi is enough to cut through flesh like a knife. Even low pressure tanks such a Balloon Time tanks are to be treated with respect.
To put all this in perspective, just inflating balloons by using lung power has caused lungs to leak air into the body cavity - no pumps, compressors or tanks involved. This is a medical emergency. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2359125/ Women have died because their sex partner blew air into their vagina and the air passed through the womb into the bloodstream. http://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Citation/1967/30010/Fatal_Air_Embolism_in_Pregnancy_Resulting_from_an.21.aspx
Again, actually trying to inflate yourself is risking loss of limb, brain injuries and death.
Tue, 11/15/2016 - 04:28
#15
if you want to try something a bit different use food grade Co2. make sure you use a regulator though which can be a bit expensive to buy a regulator but it is totaly worth using it so you dont burst your intestines with a sudden unwanted 1,800 PSI burst of soft drink fizz.. also as for Co2 it is not dangerous at all ive emptied countless tanks of it. not all at once either >.> though there is a whole lot less pain its smoother feeling than inflating with a pump due to no vibrations in the gas and it has less pain to it if your experiencing that with air. it is also obsorbed by the body much quicker than air and not in a harmful way either. there for deflating is a lot better and you feel no where near as bloated or sick from it. so if you want a recomended gas to inflate with this will be your best friend and most AIRGAS companies will fill a 20lb cylinder for around 25-28$ and that isnt bad. considering the amount of gas you get for that price and a 20lb bottle is pretty decent if you are using a high pressure cylinder. also i think i have regulators laying around some where that are no longer used.
Tue, 11/15/2016 - 04:31
#16
Oh and one other thing. make sure your regulator is set to an almost pin leak. it just needs to be enough pressure that it feels like someone exhaling through a hose.
Sat, 12/03/2016 - 12:28
#17
Don't know if this is still up for question but since I already did inflate with balloon gas (helium and air mix) some time ago, I thought I should share my expiriences.
Besides the equipment needed to perform this in some sort of saftey, the feeling to inflate with it was not too different from regular air. In fact it was a bit less enjoyable actually because of the temperature! The pressure change of the gas made it pretty cold. Sure it warmed up in my belly again but the initial coldness was far greater than I expected.
Once it was back at temperature, it didn't feel much different to air.
It's more "knowing" that I was being inflated with helium (or balloon gas) made it more excited than regular air. But then again, I could just put a sticker with "helium" on a regular air tank and it would feel the same and it would be a lot cheaper. Helium or balloon gas is pretty expensive for a little bit of thrill.
Sat, 12/03/2016 - 15:49
#18
No.
1. Under pressure should have you pretty spooked alone. Means "does not come out slowly" and if something goes wrong, it'll go wrong very quickly.
2. You could unintentionally give yourself a medical emergency. Don't do it.
3. Humans were not meant to be blown up like balloons. Want to feel blown up? Pretend or get a latex suit. All much safer.
4. There are reasonable people who have given you solid advice in this thread.
Sat, 12/03/2016 - 15:49
#19
No.
1. Under pressure should have you pretty spooked alone. Means "does not come out slowly" and if something goes wrong, it'll go wrong very quickly.
2. You could unintentionally give yourself a medical emergency. Don't do it.
3. Humans were not meant to be blown up like balloons. Want to feel blown up? Pretend or get a latex suit. All much safer.
4. There are reasonable people who have given you solid advice in this thread.
Yeah there is something you should be aware of, you can KILL YOURSELF!
The name's Noitalfin, http://noitalfin.deviantart.com/