Helium questions

[Suicidalastronaut]

So I have a medium sized balloon time helium tank. I've read that suicide via this method won't work because it's 20% air. That means the content of the tank is roughly 4% oxygen. Why wouldn't this work? 4% oxygen is not enough to survive.

 

[Dejected 55]

Those helium tanks aren't 20% "air"... they are 20% oxygen, same roughly as the oxygen content of air... to make them virtually ineffective once they became commonly used for suicides.

 

[Suicidalastronaut]

Those helium tanks aren't 20% "air"... they are 20% oxygen, same roughly as the oxygen content of air... to make them virtually ineffective once they became commonly used for suicides.

Damn that's disappointing. I'm trying to end my life tomorrow evening. I can't find an anchor point to hang myself. I don't want to resort to more violent/terrifying methods like jumping in front of a car or jumping off a parking structure. My SI kicks in when I try

 

[BandInChina]

I wonder why they didn't have that earlier, seems cheaper and safer that way…

 

[Dejected 55]

I wonder why they didn't have that earlier, seems cheaper and safer that way…

I don't think helium was expensive when they first started selling it... and since it isn't poisonous I don't think anyone even considered it might be useful for suicide. Even today, most people don't fully understand that it is your body's reaction to excess CO2 that causes the "gasping for air" feeling you have... not lack of oxygen like you'd think. Our body has some weird gauges that it uses to determine "health" that can be easily circumvented once you know how the body works.

So it took a while for people to know helium was a viable suicide method and then a while longer before enough people had been verified to use it for death before vendors made the decision to dilute their helium with oxygen.