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Indeed. I had to reread that paragraph. That's a LOT of helium (by volume). "So, i noticed some of the workers' iwatch's weren't registering the users' heart-r
by lurquer 8y ago
Indeed. I had to reread that paragraph. That's a LOT of helium (by volume).
"So, i noticed some of the workers' iwatch's weren't registering the users' heart-rates. At first, I thought it was because they had all died from suffocation from the massive gas leak. But, then I discovered something interesting... it was actually the helium molecules worming their way into the internal clock chip! Amazing day."
- therein 8y agoWhat a relief that must have been.
- SilasX 8y agoYeah, but at the same time, it wasn't enough to set off the alarms for low oxygen content, which is at least a little disturbing, right?
- pjscott 8y agoAs long as there is enough oxygen in the air, what's disturbing about it? People breathe helium/nitrogen/oxygen mixtures all the time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimix_(breathing_gas) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimix_(breathing_gas)
- SilasX 8y agoI didn't mean that the air would be dangerous to breathe. I meant that it's disturbing that the amount of He needed to disable the iPhone is low enough that the standard sensors around He (which measure 02 levels) don't regard it as a major leak for He to be at that level.
- jakevn 8y agoWhy would that be disturbing? Electronics and organisms do not have identical environmental tolerances/intolerances. Presumably, the sensors exist to protect humans, not electronics.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- crankylinuxuser 8y agoNot at all. The devices are tested for usual STP. Nothing else, unless specified. They are done so not for human comfort, but for tested conditions. No more. If you want extreme conditions, pay through the nose.
- SilasX 8y agoA device-disabling threat that normal threat sensors can't detect, even when those sensors have been deployed because of the chance of unusually high levels of that threat? Yes, I'm allowed to be disturbed by that; why wouldn't you be?
- blihp 8y agoVirtually all (esp. consumer) devices assume 'normal' atmospheric conditions with 'normal' temperature ranges and 'normal' humidity ranges. As you start to go outside those ranges, strange things can happen. People at extreme altitudes and/or in extreme climates see this on some types of devices. It's not a big deal. If you have needs outside the typical ranges, you provide your specifications and be prepared to pay much more for your solution.
- lurquer 8y agoSadly, the plant used Apple's iSensors which don't work in the presence of helium.
- bsder 8y agoHelium, unlike carbon dioxide, is lighter than both oxygen and nitrogen, so it would rise in the rooms and be very unlikely to displace oxygen in people and set off any oxygen alarms. In addition, unlike carbon monoxide, helium doesn't bind to, well, anything and certainly not hemoglobin, so it doesn't present a momentary exposure hazard either.
- SilasX 8y agoSee other reply -- I wasn't referring to danger to humans.
- SilasX 8y agoWhat the heck? I clarified that I was concerned about the silent danger to the iPhone, not to humans, and people keep assuring me there’s no danger to humans, and giving me flack just for saying that wasn’t my concern? This is a weird thread.
- Dylan16807 8y agoYou called it "disturbing", so the clarification that you were not intentionally implying any danger whatsoever is kind of annoying.
- SilasX 8y ago“Device disabling threats that aren’t detectable by the usual sensors” can’t count as “disturbing” because a human didn’t die?
- Dylan16807 8y ago"threat" the way UV light is. So no, not disturbing for it to silently ignore the equivalent of popping a party balloon.
- 8y ago
- hinkley 8y agoNot necessarily. Nobody could adequately explain to those of us in the CS dept why we had to take 3 semesters of Chemistry. Bits of it hung on and from other sources such as space exploration articles I recall this much: Fires and lungs both operate on partial pressure of oxygen. As long as nothing else in the air is toxic, your body cares that it gets X oxygen molecules per cubic centimeter of air in your lungs, not Y parts per million. Those deep sea submariners are breathing mostly helium with a small fraction of oxygen in it. If you just compressed surface air there would be so much oxygen that your hair would explode when you ran your hand through it. Assuming the electronics didn't burst into flames first. And if you didn't set yourself on fire, that much nitrogen would kill you pretty quick. So the question is, does helium displace air or mix in with it? I believe the answer is 'some of both'. If that's the case (and I think we can infer that from "the alarms didn't go off") then a good amount of helium might reduce the oxygen partial pressure less than going to 3000 feet above sea level. So what's the Venn diagram of COPD sufferers, in a hospital wing near the MRI machine, that aren't currently on supplemental oxygen?
- kijin 8y agoMoreover, helium floats to the top and escapes through any opening (staircases, HVAC ducts, gaps in ceiling tiles) because it is lighter than air. This makes it much less dangerous than a heavier gas such as CO2 even if there's enough of it to displace a significant amount of air.
- akiselev 8y agoNot just any opening: just about any microscopic crack would let it out and most non-metal materials are effectively porous when trying to contain helium under pressure. It's even used to detect leaks in high vacuum chambers.
- Pulcinella 8y agoYou don’t even need cracks. Helium (and hydrogen) can diffuse through metal, especially at high temperatures. Hydrogen embrittlement is a problem for processes that use high temp hiydrogen like the Haber process.
- tomrod 8y agoDepends on where the sensors are located. If at head height, the helium may occupy the layer above and tall people would have a hard time.
- ChuckMcM 8y agoAnd nobody was talking like Donald Duck either so I would guess it was leaking out of the room at a pretty hefty rate.