• Question: Because sucking in helium from a balloon is bad for you, what would happen if we blown too much in your lungs for ages?

    Asked by indianchicken to Audra, Fiona, Gavin, Justin, Steve on 15 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by lime1998coolioreginaldyo.
    • Photo: Fiona Hatch

      Fiona Hatch answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Not too sure what you mean. But the lungs can only hold so much air, if you blow too much air into the lungs then your ribs would expand and your muscles would burst and you would basically be in a lot of pain and would die.

    • Photo: Audra Benjamin

      Audra Benjamin answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Helium in itself is not bad for you but when you breath it in, you have less oxygen in your lungs and this is harmful. If you breath in enough helium, you would suffocate and die.

      A 70kg man can breath in a maximum of about 3L, if someone was pumping air into his lungs, when they got above the 3L the lung tissue would get damaged and he would die because of the lack of oxygen and build up of carbon dioxide.

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