what are these people inhaling and why
is it making their voices sound so deep
what would happen if this stuff was in
our atmosphere this is what if and
here's what would happen if the
atmosphere was 10%
deep voice gasps sulfur hexafluoride now
that's a mouthful you choose it's more
commonly known as sf6 or deep voice
gasps because but sulfur hexafluoride
isn't just an expensive party trick it's
an extremely potent greenhouse gas
that's five times heavier than air its
density explains why your voice drops if
you breathe it in but inhale too much of
it and it won't just be your voice that
gets deeper sulfur hexafluoride is a
non-toxic gas but if it were to suddenly
comprise 10 percent of our atmosphere
we croak not literally for the most part
our atmosphere is made up of 21% oxygen
and 78% nitrogen humans need an
atmosphere that's roughly 19 and a half
percent oxygen to breathe normally so if
we were to replace 10 percent of the
oxygen in our atmosphere with sulfur
hexafluoride we'd be left with an oxygen
level of 18.9%
which is actually still enough for us to
live but here's the problem because sf6
is five times heavier than air when you
breathe it in it compresses the lighter
oxygen in your lungs this in turn
reduces the amount of oxygen making it
into your bloodstream which means you'll
eventually pass out falling prey to
asphyxiation our planet wouldn't fare
much better sulfur hexafluoride has a
global warming
that's approximately twenty two thousand
two hundred times greater than carbon
dioxide over a 100 year period and it
can live in our atmosphere for as many
as 3,200 years and yet it's often used
as an electrical insulator in components
that are susceptible to leaks in fact
studies show that 15% of equipment
containing sf6 will develop leaks and
for a little context just one kilogram
of sf6 has the same warming effect as 24
people flying from London to New York
and back again but despite the danger
the number of components using sf6 is
expected to increase 75% globally by
2030
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fortunately our atmosphere will never
have 10% sf6 living in that kind of
world would require a complete redesign
of our lungs and a major leap and
evolution but life on Earth has gone
through unbelievably fortunate turns of
faith evolution has given us eyes arms
and intelligence and has overcome the
danger of near extinction so it's not
impossible that life wouldn't adapt to
such a drastic change that's something
that blew my mind in the documentary
series leaps in evolution which you can
watch on curiosity stream com we'll get
back to the story in a second but in
case you don't know curiosity stream is
a video streaming service with thousands
of other award-winning documentaries and
the good news is that has a what-if
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stream comm slash what if and use the
promo code what if during the signup
process come to think of it there is one
creature that could possibly survive in
an atmosphere that's ten percent deep
voice gasps that's the mighty
eight-legged tardigrade
these near microscopic critters can live
in ridiculous extremes including being
able to survive supernova blasts and
gamma-ray bursts but what are the odds
of one of those happening anytime soon
well that's a story for another what-if
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