Sulfur Hexafluoride Is My New Favorite Thing

If “Breaking Bad” was on when I was in high school, I probably would’ve passed chemistry. Not because I wanted to make crystal meth, but because I probably would’ve realized there was a lot of cool things you could do with chemicals. Though, full admission, I probably would’ve eventually tried to make crystal meth, just out of curiosity.

Also, if someone had introduced me to Sulfur Hexafluoride, I probably would’ve paid more attention in class. What is Sulfur Hexafluoride, you ask? “Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is an inorganic, colorless, odorless, and non-flammable greenhouse gas,” according to Wikipedia. What’s more important and more funny, is what Sulfur Hexafluoride does — it makes your voice super low! HILARIOUS! It’s like the opposite of Helium. It’s a gas that’s heavier than air, so it makes you sound like Andre The Giant. Check out Kelly Rippa and Neil Patrick Harris hitting the SF6 tank:

This clip gets super funny at about 1:40. Nerdiest, most accidentally hilarious chem teacher ever.

And of course, the Mythbusters tackled this some time ago. SF6 makes Adam sound like Penn Jillette.

So there you go. That’s why we find SF6 hilarious. We’d love to show you how to get your hands on some, but the people who own us would frown upon that. It’s not necessarily a deadly gas, but it’s also not exactly safe. It’s super dense and it stays in your lungs for a while. Also, it’s not oxygen, and if you put anything in your lungs that’s not oxygen, you’re asking for trouble. So you’ll just have to take the extra step and google it yourself. It’ll be the hit of your next nerd party.