[misc.misc] Helium Balloons

gelfand@valid.UUCP (Brooks Gelfand) (10/23/86)

> In article <520@zen.BERKELEY.EDU>, mikel@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Mike Liang) writes:
> > [POP!]
> > 
> > I just opened up my dead helium ballon of two days to breath in and speak like
> > like Donald Duck today and it didn't work.  Does the helium mutate or diffuse
> > out of the balloon and regular air diffuse in or what?
> > 
> 
> Helium will diffuse through ANYTHING!  It is a very small molecule (it comes
> in twos--He2) and is almost impossible to keep in or out of things.  In high
[part of article deleted]
> Don Chitwood
> Tektronix, Inc.

You are right the Helium molecule is small. It is also monoatomic. Helium
is one of the Noble (inert) gases. You have a hard time getting it to 
combine with anything, even itself. 

Brooks Gelfand