# Global helium shortage **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423 "2020-10-20T18:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/21 "2020-10-21T02:44:50Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > Given that people really like party balloons and parade balloons, what other gas can be used for those purposes? Hydrogen is probably not a popular solution since people will have visions of the Hindenburg disaster. My understanding, though, is that hydrogen isn’t that easy to set off – the Hindenburg had some unique circumstances, like the paint on its skin, that helped it along. > > Is nitrogen a good gas for party balloons? Pure nitrogen weighs just slightly less than air, so wouldn’t readily float a balloon. Methane is lighter than air but not by that much and would require much larger balloons and is also flammable. Hydrogen could be used but as you say people immediately think of the Hindenburg. But during WWI the Germans bombed London from zeppelins and the Brits found it very difficult to bring them down using incendiary bullets. The hydrogen under low pressure did not mix readily with air and was very difficult to ignite. A biplane firing a machine gun mounted straight up had to make repeated passes under a zeppelin firing specially designed incendiary bullets into the same location in order to ignite the hydrogen. The accidental ignition/combustible paint theory of the Hindenburg really doesn’t hold up in comparison. Hot air is also lighter than less hot air. It’s not practical for party balloons but something could be worked out for parade balloons. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/22 "2020-10-21T02:45:08Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > Given that people really like party balloons and parade balloons, what other gas can be used for those purposes? The gases lighter than air are : Hydrogen, Helium, Hydrogen Cyanide, Hydrogen Fluoride, Methane, Ethylene, Diborane, Carbon Monoxide, Acetylene, Neon, **Nitrogen** (barely) and Ammonia All above gases except Neon has problems with flammability or nastiness. Neon has about 2/3 the density of air, so the balloon has to be extremely light for it to work. Now steam is lighter than air, so if the room temperature is above 212F, steam balloons will work, but that’s a very very hot party. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/23 "2020-10-21T06:07:15Z")
Probably the biggest waste of helium is simply burning natural gas. Most natural gas deposits have some helium in them. Some have enough helium to make it economical to separate, most times it isn’t, so the helium comes along with the methane to the consumer, and goes straight up the flue. LNG plants make it easier to recover the helium, as you get the fractionation essentially for free as you liquefy the methane. But piping the gas directly to the consumer typically just wastes it. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/24 "2020-10-21T07:43:10Z")
Yes. The only source sufficient for the Germans to fill their Zeppelins was from the US and the US refused to sell it to them so they used hydrogen. Hydrogen was flammable but also it had greater lifting power than helium so it wasn’t all bad. And remember, hydrogen needs oxygen to burn. I had long wondered why blimps didn’t burst into flames at the fist shot from an enemy aircraft but, apparently, they were a lot more resilient against that then one might suppose. Which is to say they weren’t quite the flying bomb you’d think they would be. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/25 "2020-10-21T12:59:40Z")
As described above, the hard part of any **[Fuel-Air Explosive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon)** is getting the mixture dilute enough to ignite & stay burning uniformly enough to give the desired big bang. Outside the envelope there’s way too little fuel and way too much air (oxygen really). Inside the envelope it’s the opposite. If you magick away the envelope and wait a bit, diffusion (& wind) will produce regions with mixtures in the **[combustible range](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammability_limit)**. But then you’ve got to put your igniter(s) where those region(s) are. OTOH … When I was a kid we had great fun filling ordinary elastic party balloons with acetylene from our welding tanks. Then we rigged an electric igniter using a suicide cord connected to some fine copper wire (stripped telephone hookup wire worked great) wrapped around the base of the inflated balloon. Plug it in, hear the brief humming surge of electricity through the wires, followed by a very smoky sooty FOOF! as it went off. Even better to put some oxygen in there along with the pure acetylene. The **BANG!** when you got the mixture just right was impressive to say the least. We laughed until we peed our pants on more than one occasion. I do not recommend that any tweens reading this try this at home unless you’re already pretty experienced at dangerous Mythbusters-style experiments. And even then, better not to. As to any grown-ups, just be sure to yell the secret code words before plugging in. No, that’s not “Fire in the hole!”. It’s “Hey y’all! Watch this!” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/26 "2020-10-21T13:20:10Z")
Perhaps a mixture of hydrogen helium and maybe some nitrogen and or neon mixed in could be used for lifting purposes, limiting the ignitability of the hydrogen by dilution and not using as much helium as if one was filling to straight up? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/27 "2020-10-21T13:28:33Z")
Sky lanterns [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/SkyLanternRichy01.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/SkyLanternRichy01.jpg) are fun at parties. Just be careful not to burn down any forests. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/28 "2020-10-21T14:28:10Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Most helium in the universe was produced in the Big Bang. Stellar fusion is a distant second source. Ignorance fought, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![GrassFox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b19c9b/32.png) [@GrassFox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrassFox)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/29 "2020-10-21T14:56:00Z")
When was it ordained that all party balloons must float, which meant being filled with helium? As a child we just blew them up with lung power and filled them with whatever nasty gases a kid has inside them. The balloons kind of floated which was good enough for us. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/30 "2020-10-21T17:26:47Z")
BTW, another reason not to use party balloons, especially the mylar ones, is environmental consequences. Yet more litter, basically, unless you collect them after using them, rather than letting them float off towards the horizon. Fat chance. They can entangle wildlife, and contribute to the plastics floating around in the oceans. Latex does eventually degrade, which is why the mylar ones are worse, but it still takes a while. This may actually be a better reason to forgo the party balloons. US helium consumption has dropped about 20% since 2010, and I suspect that reflects better recovery from non-lifting applications, party balloons or no party balloons. Weather balloons, btw, are launched at the rate of something in the vicinity of a couple thousand every day world wide. We can probably accept that, given that a useful purpose is being served. And, as noted, those can be filled with hydrogen, although that still means they contribute to the litter problem. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/31 "2020-10-21T17:32:56Z")
Another reason to avoid mylar balloons is because when they get caught in power lines, they can and have caused electrical shorts, meaning blackouts. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/32 "2020-10-21T18:08:37Z")
“Is nitrogen a good gas for party balloons?” No, in larger quantities there is a risk of nitrogen suffocation. The dangerous part is that there is no warning, no respiratory distress. And, as stated, nitrogen provides no lift. I don’t see a problem with hydrogen-filled party balloons as long as they are outdoors. ---
**Author:** ![Jlatorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jlatorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jlatorre)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/33 "2020-10-21T18:19:42Z")
You know, our beloved Cecil Adams answered that very question a few years ago: [https://www.straightdope.com/21341935/how-do-they-make-helium-it-s-an-inert-gas](https://www.straightdope.com/21341935/how-do-they-make-helium-it-s-an-inert-gas) ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/34 "2020-10-21T20:35:13Z")
In air, below a 4% concentration by weight there’s not enough hydrogen to burn, it’s below the Lower Explosive Limit (LEL). Again in air; if the hydrogen concentration is above 75% by weight it won’t burn either, there’s not enough oxygen to support combustion, it’s above the Upper Explosive Limit (UEL). You could fill party balloons with a 96/4% nitrogen/hydrogen mixture. That’s probably not light enough to float a party balloon reliably, but you could enrich the ambient atmosphere with argon. It’s almost one and a half times the density of air and it’s the third most abundant element in air. It’s much more easily recovered than helium. Sure, it sounds crazy, but if you don’t think about it too much it might work. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/35 "2020-10-21T20:45:04Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > That’s probably not light enough to float a party balloon reliably, but you could enrich the ambient atmosphere with argon. It’s almost one and a half times the density of air and it’s the third most abundant element in air. And finally a solution to that surplus argon problem too. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/36 "2020-10-21T20:49:57Z")
Interesting thread. A few questions. 1. Does anyone know how long our helium reserves may last? 2. Could anything be done nowadays to make hydrogen Zeppelins safer? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/37 "2020-10-21T20:54:26Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Sure, it sounds crazy, but if you don’t think about it too much it might work. Why not go with sulfur hexafluoride in that case? It’s non-toxic and made from common elements. You could have _really_ floaty balloons in that case. Just make sure to keep a fan going to keep the air well-mixed. Oh, and I suppose it is over 4 orders of magnitude more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, so keep it indoors. As a bonus, it also makes everyone sound like Barry White. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/38 "2020-10-21T21:05:07Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Could anything be done nowadays to make hydrogen Zeppelins safer? For starters, you might choose not to coat the envelope with thermite. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/39 "2020-10-21T21:23:20Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > 1. Does anyone know how long our helium reserves may last? There’s an oft-quoted figure out there by the US Dept of the Interior in 2014 that the world helium supply was enough for 117 years. In the US, we have something on the order of 20 to 30 years readily available. New deposits have been discovered in Tanzania which may be enormous. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423/40 "2020-10-21T21:34:53Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Sure, it sounds crazy, but if you don’t think about it too much it might work. Fun idea. And with interesting chemistry to boot. Count me in! Almost as fun as the vacuum balloons that keep being proposed that also almost work as long as we don’t think about it. > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Could anything be done nowadays to make hydrogen Zeppelins safer? From 2016: > [@Why no vacuum or hydrogen based airships?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-vacuum-or-hydrogen-based-airships/763811): > > I know that the Hindenburg clearly put a dent in people’s confidence in hydrogen’s usefulness in lighter than air travel, but that was a very long time ago, and there are still questions as to whether the hydrogen or the paint involved was responsible for that disaster. One would think that after th better part of a century, with new materials and technology that someone could engineer a way to use hydrogen safely in lighter than air travel. It weighs half of what helium does and is nowhere n… From 2017: > [@Have we been able to construct vacuum buoyant structures yet?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-been-able-to-construct-vacuum-buoyant-structures-yet/787114): > > If you build a structure that is simultaneously light enough and rigid enough to stand up to atmospheric pressure, you could suck out all the air and make it float. Have we developed the engineering prowess to make something like this yet? If not, how close are we and what are major engineering constraints that still limit us? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/global-helium-shortage/923423.md?page=3)