Science Question

[HighSoci]

How is helium obtained? Is the helium used to put into balloons and things of that sort man made, or do they actually get it from somewhere? If helium is lighter than the air that we breathe, it would always be up high and how can they get it?

[MC_Master_of_Ceremonies]

Helim is extracted from natural Gas, it only needs to be extracted as it is an inert gas and very unreactive.

[Achernar]

HowStuffWorks agrees. Apparently, it’s cryogenically extracted from natural gas that comes from areas with high concentrations of radioactive Uranium. I never, ever would have guessed.

How Helium Balloons Work

[Chronos]

I never, ever would have guessed.

Well, what do you think ends up happening to alpha particles? They slow down pretty quickly, and given enough time, they accumulate.

[Desmostylus]

Helium

For most of this century the world’s precious supply of helium has escaped from natural gas wells into the air. Only in 1958 did politicians heed the warnings of influential scientists including John Bardeen, the inventor of the transistor, that all our helium would be gone by 1980. Congress reacted by spending $1 billion–an astonishing sum in the 1950s–on a separation plant in Amarillo, Texas, and began stockpiling helium in empty gas wells.
<snip>
Thanks to the conservation measures, helium supplies were not exhausted by 1980. and other rich sources of the gas were discovered. however, sources of helium have remained few and far between because the geology of natural gas wells must be very special in order to hold onto it in commercial quantities.

Against this background, the worldwide consumption of helium has increased by between 5 and 10 percent a year in the past decade, which the biggest growth in its use as a coolant for the superconducting magnets in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) body scanners. Present helium consumption is estimated to be about 100 million cubic metres, and is predicted to continue rising by 4 to 5 percent a year.

No one is claiming that we are in imminent danger of running out of helium–there should be at least 20 years supply left. However, new sources of the gas will have to be found to meet the ever-growing demand. If not, God forbid, we may have to celebrate helium’s 200th birthday in the year 2095–without any Mickey Mouse balloons.

[eburacum45]

Iwould point out that Helium is the second most common element in the universe, so there is another reason to continue with the space program.
Save the Helium Balloon!