It’s just gaslighting you
Good luck trying to light Helium. It’s a noble gas.
It was a play on helium being lighter than air. The gas is lighter. So it’s not about lighting the gas.
Ita not a very good joke it seems, and its even worse now ive had to defend it with an explanation.
Next time use Hydrogen. It’s lighter than air and flammable so it works either way.
I see your point. Its fair. But im not sure people commonly know that hydrogen is lighter than air. I dont know the last time i filled a party balloon with hydrogen.
There was a very famous balloon (kind of) that was filled with hydrogen. And it also lit on fire!
The Hindenburg.
Again, as fair as what you are saying is, it doesn’t really help with the joke.
I would expect that helium being lighter than air is more commonly held knowledge than the hindenburg or that hydrogen is also lighter than air. More people have played with helium baloons than blimps.
I don’t want to sound like an asshole … but everyone who ever had at least one chemistry class should know that hydrogen is the lightest element and that it can be a gas.
Either way, I think it might be too complex for a dad joke.
Yeah, later in life when you arent doing a job that involves chemistry, most people forget that stuff. Im 35 and i basically remember nothing from science other than what ive needed to remember to get by. I was more into computers. So from my perspective anyone who has ever had one IT class should know what binary is and how to translate it into decimal.
Trust me. Not as many people as you seem to think will know much about hydrogen.