Prank callers just got a new reason to show up to chemistry class!

A container of this and Skype makes for much, much fun.

but will it make a balloon float?

at the end i feel like he's trying to sell the gas to me.. it ACTUALLY fills the chamber!

The Preston and Steve Show on Philly's WMMR did this last year on their "science day."

itll make it float like a brick

What would Ving Rhames sound like?

science rules

@Benjammin:
Barry White

I need to get some of this.

Barry White, watch out!

Then it would make Barry White sound like a nuclear explosion

gadget news? :)

[www.concordegas.com]

Does Gizmodo count as a company they would sell to?

are we sure that wasnt NO2....that little guys laugh was an instant tell!

Thank you for posting this clip! I watched this the other night and have been looking for it ever since.

Price and availability plz.

You can get the same effect with Freon. However as Freon is much heavier than air, it is a bit more difficult to get it out of your chest than Helium. Oh, and it could asphixiate you. Perhaps a trick for the Hoons at Jalopnik...

Awesome!

Never trust a guy wearing a pink tie.

I want this stuff

LOL ya i saw this a while ago soooo funny.. i wanna try it.

I want this stuff, where can I find it?

I wouldn't recommend it but using those keyboard cleaners with compressed-air-in-the-can will do the same exact thing PLUS an extra high.

Although I wouldn't consider anyone trying it unless you are willing lose some brain cells

BUTTT if you are willing to try it out be aware of which air-can you get some can be harsh on your throat.

.... not saying that I've tried this before or not just being informative here :D

R.I.P. Andre the Giant

This would be funny for church choirs. The one I was in had problems recruiting men. "HAY GUYZ, I'M MOVING TO THE BASS SECTION!"

You were watching Leno?

Turns out that sulfur hexafluoride, or "Anti-Helium" as deemed by this clip, is has 22,000 times more potential for global warming than carbon dioxide over a 100 year period.

So think twice before you release this stuff into our atmosphere.

same effect as the air in a can of whip cream. it makes you stupid tho.

How about sulfur hexaflouride and an Optimus Prime mask at a drive-thru? I would love to see footage of that one.

@MUNCH: you could combine tanks of sulphur-hexa-whatsis and oxygen in that bicycle
filter helmet . I'm sure using a proper mix of O2 and SHF would let you talk like that for long periods without suffocating.

Um, what gas makes your chin smaller? Damn, he's got a chin!

Sounds like the scene from Young Guns 2 when they were all smokin' peyote and yelling, "Chicken?! Chicken?! You see that chicken?!"

@ DOOFUSGUMBY - I'm not sure if that would work. You would almost need to constantly mix the two gasses together, otherwise the O2 and SHF would settle like oil and water, with the SHF staying in your lungs where it wouldn't change your voice. I'm not going to go playing with dense gasses, but I do really want to know what that would sound like.

@AmarasuM: yeah but think about how much co2 is released combared to sodium hexaflouride. if the stuff is only being used for kicks in a few places its not going to do anything. its when we have sodium hexaflouride powered cars that you can start to complain.

I'm already thinking of the ways I will scare kids on Halloween, Perfect!

Wow, only one guy makes the obvious Nitrus connection...
With N02, as long as it's dental grade, all you have to do is make sure to breathe air between hits.
Hippy Crack makes everyone talk like Barry White and stupid people flop like a fish.

Did you guys notice that that glass box of sulfur hexafluoride did not have a lid? They just stuck their heads in there and breathed it?

The reason it doesn't have a lid is because it's heavier than air so in concentration, it will just sit in the bottom of an open container in much the same way that water would.

What this means is no floaty balloons. They would drop to the ground like rocks if filled with sulfur hexafluoride.

But the real problem is that your lungs are essentially an open container. If you breathe enough of this stuff in for a long enough period of time, you could drown in it just like if you inhaled a bucket of water. But unlike drowning, if you're experiencing oxygen displacement asphyxiation, your body doesn't know you're not getting enough oxygen so you just pass out and die.

We did this in grade school chemistry class and our teacher was very specific about the danger. It's shameful that this would be displayed on television without a severe warning not to try it at home.

And that bullshit about it not actually changing the pitch of your voice, just filtering out the high frequencies? Where does this guy get his science?

From WikiPedia:
The voice of a person who has inhaled helium temporarily sounds high-pitched. This is because the speed of sound in helium is nearly three times greater than in air. Because the fundamental frequency of a gas-filled cavity is proportional to the speed of sound in the gas, when helium is inhaled there is a corresponding increase in the resonant frequencies of the vocal tract. (The opposite effect, lowering frequencies, can be obtained by inhaling sulfur hexafluoride.)

So because sulfur hexafluoride is more dense than air and transmits sound at a low velocity (he got that right), it doesn't act as a filter, it actually lowers the pitch of your voice.

@MUNCH: sure it would work. you'd have to experiment with the mix to see what valve settings you'd need. recommendations for the experiment:

get a nose/mouth mask with two inlets, remove any straps so that holding it to your face is an active process, that way if unconciousness results the mask falls off by itself.

don't do the experiment lying on the floor in a sealed basement!

if the heaviness of the SHF makes you nervous, hang upside down from gravity boots when experimenting. do this is a well-ventilated area.

make sure the oxygen tank has a longer run time than the SHF tank no matter what flow rates are chosen.

remember kids, any INERT gas is safe to breathe as long as oxygen is mixed with it.

Something just to throw out there is that with simple chemistry one can create this stuff, but it's long term (greater than a breath or two) effects require complex rules to figure out. There are physiologist that specialize in gas chemistry, so it's isn't as simple as just mixing 2 gases and thinking that it will work like air on the human body.

Helium is inert. F6S is generally non reactive, but not inert. Gas chemistry in living organisms is complex, and even though it is barely able to dissolve in water or alcohol, it will dissolve.

As this conversation gets nerdy, the body can only load so much O2, but unloading waste gases, like CO2 is a different mater. The partial pressures might actually not allow one to unload enough CO2....

What was the topic again?

Oh, yea. Cool stuff.

OMG, so funny!
I'd like both helium and anti-helium now just to see if... will it blend?
If helium makes your voice high pitched, and anti-helium filters high sounds... both you make you mute? o_O

I can't believe that someone even asked about the ballon. That's funny.

@inkswitch: SF6 is $10 a pound. I don't think any little kids are going to be getting their hands on it any time soon.

@AmarasuM: Do you see this stuff going UP into our atmosphere? It's kinda, um, heavier than air. I don't think we have to worry about this and our atmosphere.

@Wouldpkr: Even the nitrous oxide they give you at the dentist kills massive amounts of brain cells so continual exposure is a great way to get dumb fast (but most people would take anything as long as there's no sensation of the impending root canal).

In any case, I'm pretty sure NBC would frown upon Leno pausing to do some whippits in the middle of the show... Kevin Eubanks would be down with it though

This gas is commonly refered to as SF6, one of the main uses is insulation gas for high voltage gas insulated switchgear (GIS). Companies like Siemens, GE or ABB make this stuff and will also supply you with the gas, an other tip might be linde gas.
It basically makes it harder for a flash over arc to form (channel), these babies are used for example in wind turbines, on offshore plattforms, wherever high power has to be switched and there is not a lot of space (footballfield lik space)

Thats not what ving rhames sounds like.

@inkswitch: I think there's a longer YouTube video that shows Mr. Scientist taking the lid off right before they float an aluminum foil boat in it.

Hey! That's my former Physics Lab professor from college! I shit you not. He burned Pink Floyd CD's for me :)