Helium is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and nontoxic gas. Helium’s atomic number is two and it is the second lightest and second most abundant gas in the universe. If you inhale a small amount of it, it can make your voice sound very high pitched. Helium is also used in airships because it is lighter than air. Hydrogen used to be used in airships, but it was changed to Helium after the Hindenburg incident, Hydrogen is very flammable and that was what made the giant airship catch on fire. Some deep-sea scuba systems use helium along with the nitrogen and oxygen in the tank of air to protect people from nitrogen narcosis, decompression sickness, and oxygen toxicity, all of which are some really bad things that could kill you.

Larry Walters and Kent Couch did an amazing thing with helium. Larry Walters, an American adventurer, always dreamed of flight, but he had bad eyesight and wasn’t allowed to be in the air force. One day he saw some weather balloons hanging on top of an army/navy surplus store. He bought them and some tanks of extra helium. When he went back home, he connected the balloons to his patio chair and carried a pellet gun and wore a parachute for safety reasons. He also brought some food and a camera. He then, with the help of some friends, took off. He expected to stay floating in the air at a height of 100 feet, but his plans went really wrong because he ended up floating at 3 miles high! He shot some of his balloons down after a while with his pellet gun and landed on a power line that made a neighborhood have a twenty minute long blackout. He was later arrested for flying without radio connection to the airport control tower. Kent couch decided that it would be an interesting thing to do after he saw a Discovery Channel show about Larry Walters’ amazing flight. He also used one of his patio chairs, connected them to many helium weather balloons, took a bb gun along with him, and brought his radio, lunch, and GPS. He flew 193 miles and landed in La Grande, Oregon.

I think Helium is a very interesting gas. It can be used in many things and is very safe for anybody to use. Two people did something very interesting and amazing with helium too.