Save the Helium!!!

[speediva]

Originally posted by Heep


:huh:

My sentiments precisely.

I can't believe that the only boiling/melting points listed in my Chem book are for water and Mercury. How ridiculous!

[Heep]

I was just confused by nearly every word you said

[ci5ic]

So, due to the fact that it is a naturally occuring element, I would wager that it's been naturally occurring for quite some time (long before we ever discovered it), and has also been "escaping" from our atmosphere for just as long. Seems highly unlikely (IMO) that using it to fill balloons will rapidly increase it's rate of consumption to a point that it is depleted. Unless, it is created by or somehow inherently linked/sustained with another "natural resource" that we are consuming at a rate that exceeds it's ability to create/sustain the production of helium.

I only ever took 1 chem course when I was in junior high, so I could be WAY off, but this just makes sense to me.

[speediva]

Helium is mostly found in Natural Gas deposits, so therefore when we run out of NG deposits we could very well run out of He. Now the link that Yogs gave seems to make me think that He is "made" very easily by passing alpha rays through loose electrons... And while I know that is a *very* basic explanation of the process, I also know that there is much more to it that I don't entirely understand yet. It's been about 4 years since I last took Chem, and it isn't coming back as easily as I'd hoped.

[taranaki]

Bah....jargon,jargon,jargon......Chem didn't have cheerleaders,so Itook track instead......as for the helium,as long as there's enough to last until my kids stop laughing at chipmunk impressions,I don't care.Once Iam dead,the planet is of no use to me,and it will be up to my children's generation to have a go at killing it off.

[replicant_008]

Other uses for Helium....

- Superconductor research (tend to work near 0 Kelvin and require a non-reactive, non flammable, non conductive coolant)
- Deep sea diving (replaces nitrogen) mixtures to avoid nitrogen saturation (ie the bends which incidentally is Radiohead's best album)
- Non Flammable Dirigibles (think Hindenburg)

Now having not done a chemistry course at school (I'm serious) my limited understanding was that Helium molecules were created when deuterium or Tritium (being 'heavy' isotopes of hydrogen) nuclei were the subject of a fusion reaction where they merged by the gravitational forces located within stars by virtue of their mass forcing the nuclei to merge together at the sub-atomic level.

This process of fusion is the thermo-nuclear reaction we observe in stars of which the sun is our nearest example. In fact, huge quantities of hydrogen are consumed by this process to create helium molecules.

On the other hand, it's pretty difficult to harvest these helium molecules and my understanding is that the US is the only major source of Helium. As the US banned the export of Helium to Germany prior to WWI this is why Zeppelins were filled with Hydrogen (which was extracted with the electolysis of water) which made them extremely flammable.

By the way, I don't like Helium Balloons for other reasons - the frickin things fly over the ocean, eventually pop and adds to the junk in the sea. Seabirds, fish, turtles, dolphins, whales, seals can be killed by this crap and the more expensive shiny stuff is usually made of non-biodegradable crap so the frickin stuff can kill multiple times as can the plastic stuff used to hold a 6 pack together....

[YogsVR4]

Originally posted by saturntangerine
Helium is mostly found in Natural Gas deposits, so therefore when we run out of NG deposits we could very well run out of He. Now the link that Yogs gave seems to make me think that He is "made" very easily by passing alpha rays through loose electrons... And while I know that is a *very* basic explanation of the process, I also know that there is much more to it that I don't entirely understand yet. It's been about 4 years since I last took Chem, and it isn't coming back as easily as I'd hoped.

Dont worry Tangie - my wifes degree is in chemical engineering (as well as one in mechanical) and I trust what she tells me.

[Heep]

Helium balloons are fun to dribble like a basketball though, they come up automatically