How do we refine helium?

Factual Questions
1

We don’t pull it outta the ground like coal, I know that for sure! And since the noble gassiness of it makes it impossible to just pull it off something else, it would seem to be hard to get it. How do we get helium?

2

http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele002.html

You’re welcome. :smiley:

3

Well he does live in a cave…

4

In a display case at Malott Hall at the University of Kansas, there is a sealed glass vial that is supposedly the first clearly identified sample of helium, separated from a natural gas well in Kansas. But the origins of the vial seem apocryphal.

5

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=71244
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=46854
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=78076
And of course Cecil: How do they make helium? It’s an inert gas!

Thanks, Anthracite. Now I have in my mind the image of a floating glass vial tied down with a string and little toddlers pointing at it, crying “Mommy, mommy, want have balloon!”. :smiley:

6

Thanks everyone!