Posted: 11/28/2013 6:37:56 AM EDT
| Last I checked, the supply of helium is low, so why are they wasting it on filling up giant figures of Spiderman and SpongeBob? |
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Quoted: Because Helium molecules as so small that they will eventually go through anything you contain them in except maybe glass or ceramics. The earth is porous and the sky has no limit. Quoted: Quoted: Ok...so why is helium going away? Because Helium molecules as so small that they will eventually go through anything you contain them in except maybe glass or ceramics. The earth is porous and the sky has no limit. Is the well dry /bucket empty? |
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So where does Helium come from? Is the well dry /bucket empty? Quoted:
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Ok...so why is helium going away? Because Helium molecules as so small that they will eventually go through anything you contain them in except maybe glass or ceramics. The earth is porous and the sky has no limit. Is the well dry /bucket empty? Makes you wonder how much helium must have been present in the planet given its age and how much is still available. My question is if it is so light an element that it actually escapes earths gravity or whether he density of it just puts it at the edge of the upper atmosphere. |
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Quoted: Last I checked, the supply of helium is low, so why are they wasting it on filling up giant figures of Spiderman and SpongeBob? We use quite a bit of helium in chemistry, and I try to conserve it as much as possible. For non-lighter than air stuff, I do not know why there is not a great push to switch over to argon. |
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Quoted:
So where does Helium come from? Is the well dry /bucket empty? Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Ok...so why is helium going away? Because Helium molecules as so small that they will eventually go through anything you contain them in except maybe glass or ceramics. The earth is porous and the sky has no limit. Is the well dry /bucket empty? All the helium here on Earth comes from deep oil and gas wells, because anything that wasn't trapped deep inside the Earth already GTFO into space when Obama won in 2008. Once those wells run dry, there are no more good supplies on this planet. There is shitloads of helium on Saturn, but Obama killed the space program, so we can't go get it any more. ETA: it is also circling Uranus with the Klingons, along with a considerable amount of methane, probably because you think chili has beans in it. |
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Helium is an inert gas, meaning it doesn’t react with anything. So there is no way to extract helium from a mineral or other substance. (We can extract hydrogen from water among other things and chlorine can be extracted from salt.)
Helium is light and ends up in the upper atmosphere. Then it escapes from Earth’s gravity when it gets swept out into space by the solar winds. Helium is produced by radioactive decay. For example, when Uranium 238 decays it gives off an alpha particle consisting of two protons and two neutron and becomes Thorium 234. The alpha particle grabs a couple stray electrons and becomes a helium atom. So, small quantities of helium are always being produced on Earth. |
