Sulfur Hexafluoride

One of my younger brother’s favorite shows to watch is Mythbusters, and repeats are on almost every day. Well, a couple of days ago I saw a video about inhaling sulfur hexafluoride. Everyone has heard someone talk after inhaling helium from a balloon, they sound really funny because their voice is very high. The effect helium has on the voice is because it is much less dense than air. It causes the speed of the sound of your voice to increase, whereas the frequency of the vocal cords doesn’t change. Inhaling sulfur hexafluoride has the opposite effect of helium, it causes your voice to go extremely deep, like Darth Vader. This is because it is much denser than the air we breathe in, causing the speed of sound of your voice to decrease while the frequency stays the same. It is really entertaining and amusing to watch someone talk after inhaling sulfur hexafluoride!