I just heard of a man breaking the helium party balloon record of how many it takes to float someone up off the ground (as in the Lucy episode where she and Viv start a children’s birthday business). This made me wonder what with all the little spoiled brats getting all these parties with helium balloons, what what with helium so scarce, where can it possibly be coming from? How can it even be in the air, since it and hydrogen must just float off away from the earth! Since helium can’t form from anything else, where is it in the first place in the earth! You would think that the price of helium, argon, xenon, and other rare gases would be more than the price of gold and diamonds.
The Master on how do they make helium?
Basically, terrestrial helium comes from radioactive decay and we get it as a byproduct from natural gas wells.
The big wells are in Texas panhandle. That’s why the Hindenburg had to use hydrogen. That was a catastrophy we caused by denying Hitler access to helium.
We should have been denying him much more than helium.
Actually, it was the skin of the Hindenburg cought on fire. It was coated with Aluminum Oxide (highly flamable). It probably started with a static discharge. It would have burned even if it was filled with He. I suppose its possible the escaping He would have starved the fire or something, but it probably would not have made any difference.
Yes, on Earth He comes from radioactive decay (beta particles are basically Helium nuclii). It also comes from fusion of Hydrogen nuclii.
Brian
“controlled fusion is 5 years away, and has been that way for 20 years”
The TM tackle it:
At least one guy has an alternate take on the Hindenberg disaster.
There’s more further down the page. I don’t think anybody would contest that hydrogen is flammable.
This page seems to imply that the refusal to sell helium to Germany came after the Hindenberg was destroyed.
My bad, I meant alpha particles. Beta paricles, IIRC are high energy electrons
Brian