Monument to the Helium Atom
In America, helium is running out of gas. The element that lifts things like balloons, spirits and voice ranges is being depleted so rapidly in the world’s largest reserve, outside of Amarillo, Texas, that supplies are expected to be depleted there within the next eight years.
This deflates more than the Goodyear blimp and party favors. Its larger impact is on science and technology…”Helium’s use in science is extremely broad, but its most important use is as a coolant,” said Lee Sobotka, a specialist in nuclear chemistry and physics who collaborates with researchers at several national laboratories…
“Helium is non-renewable and irreplaceable. Its properties are unique and unlike hydrocarbon fuels, there are no biosynthetic ways to make an alternative to helium. All should make better efforts to recycle it…”
Helium plays second fiddle to marketing oil and natural gas, and much of it is lost in a process that removes noncombustible nitrogen and helium from the product of prime interest.
The Oil Patch Boys consider dollars to be their prime commodity, anyway. Worrying about science and nature is not a near-term priority.
#22 – ECA
It’s still not safe enough for kids. If it was, it would have been used all over the world.
#25 – Mr. Catshit
Yeah, there’s a lot of Dihydrogen Oxide addicts around the globe… 😉
The Bussard Fusion Reactor is a much more elegant solution and produces large amounts of energy. Aneutronic fusion. Stable Helium is a byproduct not radiation.
…yes, it’s really true.
23, look in almost everything on the planet.
Acid and aluminum make it.
you can crack Methane into it
Water, is easy to crack
33,
you are saying that Helium is available in all countries?? i dont think so.
#35, ECA,
Water, is easy to crack
Yup. There was some long, hard, pointed water hanging off of the eaves. The kid asked if she could have some so I just broke off a piece for her. Today it is raining and all that snow and hard water is melting.
Actually helium is being produced deep within the earth as a byproduct of radioactive decay of materials. Just suck out some more, its inside the oil we pump out.
As for the Hindenburg, well the German mistake was to paint it with aluminized gunpowder.
I’m sure the Russians are sitting on a bunch of it, like how they own nearly all the titanium in the world.
#33, Jägermeister,
But, but, it has such wonderful therapeutic properties when heated to 36C and mixed with jets of O2 propelled at velocities of up to several fps.
It’s also required to sustain the life of Percoidei Centratchidae, the ritualistic pursuit of which results in hours of pleasure.
Perhaps I can make some extra bucks auctioning off Capt. Pruss’ Zippo on eBay.
#38, Bubba,
Ya, I noticed those Percoidei Centratchidae drink the stuff like fish. It is almost as if they love swimming in it.
I wonder if that is what Lauren the Ghotti meant all the time about being “PC”? Damn, too early and not enough caffeine to be thinking. That makes it hurt.
#35 – ECA – you are saying that Helium is available in all countries?? i dont think so.
We were discussing using Hydrogen instead of Helium, right? The point I was making was that if Hydrogen was safe, it would be used around the world.
#36, #38 – 😀
I have read quite a few blogs on this similar subject, and from my understanding the world is no where near close to running out of helium. In fact, one of the largest Helium reserves is in Arizona and New Mexico. Only time will tell, thank you for the great article.