# Will We Run Out of Helium? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640 "2012-03-03T14:46:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/61 "2012-03-22T18:31:47Z")
Yes. I know all that. The point was all the extra helium we have released into the atmosphere aint going anywhere anytime “soon” (or is it?). I wonder how much the atmospheric helium concentration HAS increased since all this fossil fuel usage became all the rage with humans? I guess one of my implied points was “more expensive” is better than “we don’t have any anymore”. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/62 "2012-03-22T18:41:14Z")
> [@tompitch4d](#): > > Does anyone know what percentage of annual global helium production goes to party balloons? It would be part of the 13% “Other” in this graph: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HeliumUsePieChart1996.jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HeliumUsePieChart1996.jpg) Presumably it is less than the 3% explictly listed for diving (breathing mixtures) ---
**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:** [March 22, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/63 "2012-03-22T18:45:01Z")
> [@tompitch4d](#): > > Based on what I’ve learned from this thread “The Guardian” got it wrong this week, especially the headline. This story seems to blame the sale of party balloons for a shortage of helium needed for an experiment. Does anyone know what percentage of annual global helium production goes to party balloons? > > [Helium stocks run low – and party balloons are to blame | Chemistry | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/mar/18/helium-party-balloons-squandered) Figures from different sources don’t agree, but some recent articles say that 7% goes to to filling balloons, which includes weather balloons and military reconnaissance balloons. Here’s a chart showing consumption by year to 2005. You can note that “diverse” applications (including lifting) are much lower than technical or cryogenic applications: [http://th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/~scherer/Blogging/Helium/helium\_usage.jpg](http://th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/~scherer/Blogging/Helium/helium_usage.jpg) Note that US consumption has been dropping in the 21st century. A lot of that probably has to do with better recycling and reuse. Weather balloons can be filled with hydrogen - some are. Hydrogen used to be more common - helium became more popular for weather balloons because of the greater safety in handling vs. some added lift from the hydrogen. If helium gets expensive, they probably go back to more hydrogen filled weather balloons, and take the necessary safety precautions when filling them. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/64 "2012-03-22T18:57:29Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > It would be part of the 13% “Other” in this graph: > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HeliumUsePieChart1996.jpg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HeliumUsePieChart1996.jpg) > > Presumably it is less than the 3% explictly listed for diving (breathing mixtures) That often-shown chart is a tad out of date, too, since the figures are from 1996. That’s why I brought up the “7% for balloons of various types” figure I’ve seen a couple places. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/65 "2012-03-22T19:11:40Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > What I’d like to know is where I can buy helium futures–or simply helium in long-term storage. There doesn’t seem to be an organized commodity market for helium. The investment press suggests two ways to play the helium shortage: 1 - through investment in natural gas producers, as helium may become more of a primary drilling target and less of a byproduct. 2 - through the suppliers, the two major ones being Praxair (PX) and Air Products (APD). ---
**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:** [March 22, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/66 "2012-03-22T21:04:09Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > There doesn’t seem to be an organized commodity market for helium. The investment press suggests two ways to play the helium shortage: That’s a shame. Investing in the NG producers doesn’t seem like too bad an option since at least they own reserves, but I don’t see much point in investing in the suppliers unless they have some very long-term source contracts. I guess some of the air distillation companies might be another option, but I suspect it’ll be a while before that becomes a competitive source. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/67 "2013-09-20T02:02:34Z")
Bumped. Congress is acting to avert a helium shortage: [HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/senate-helium-bill_n_3957420.html) ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/68 "2013-09-20T03:16:36Z")
Another use for helium not mentioned here is in low-temperature physics. My father is an experimentalist and has run into problems as his grants are fixed amounts for three years, but when the price for helium rises he can’t go back for more money. I could ask him, but my WAG is that the total worldwide experimental need is dwarfed by the balloon industry, but nevertheless physicists are affected. And to Nuclear Physicist’s point, I’m afraid that market forces aren’t going to make other gasses more attractive to low-temperature physicists. They don’t use helium because it’s so cheap, but because it has properties that make it ideal for experimentation at near zero Kelvin. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/69 "2013-09-20T04:00:20Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Bumped. > > Congress is acting to avert a helium shortage: [HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/senate-helium-bill_n_3957420.html) So far as I can see that bill is doing the exact opposite. The criticism against sales from the National Helium Reserve was that the bill essentially mandated an unrealistically low price, as they wanted to recoup the 1.3 billion in a short time. So the market was flooded and prices dropped. The worry was that continued cheap prices would deplete the reserve, and make measures to reduce waste of Helium uneconomic. With the debt paid, prices should revert to prices that reflect the cost of production, and things should stabilise. But this bill continues to undercut prices and will continue the availability of cheap helium. Avoiding a massive jump in prices is a good idea, but the effective subsidy of a market suppressing price by the US is not a good long term thing. I wonder if someone could challenge this in the WTO. The other question is whether they will start putting Helium back into the reserve. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/70 "2013-09-20T16:38:37Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Very true. I guess I was more worried that so far ordinary superconducting magnets (i.e for NMR and MRI devices) are not viable with these materials. Given another 100 years of research it is probable that this will be solved. Heck we might even see a room temperature superconductor by then. OTOH, it is hard to believe that there won’t be lots more really important physics down at liquid helium temperatures found in that time too. 100 years? Science is [WAY](http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/graphene-the-miracle-material-explained-968797) ahead of that already. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/71 "2013-09-20T17:18:16Z")
Sorry Francis Vaughan, I see that you did in fact mention low-temperature physics and I missed it. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/72 "2013-09-20T17:35:52Z")
Here’s another usage of helium graph (2002): [http://www.stratosolar.com/uploads/5/6/7/1/5671050/29\_challengestoheliumsupply111003.pdf](http://www.stratosolar.com/uploads/5/6/7/1/5671050/29_challengestoheliumsupply111003.pdf) (page 4) That one lists “Balloons and Blimps” as 16%, and the paper goes on to say that blimps are a minor component and most of the balloon usage is in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/73 "2013-09-20T20:06:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Helium, like any other gas, will mix in the atmosphere. All gases in the atmosphere get lost to space; helium just gets lost more quickly, due to its low molecular mass. With nitrogen and oxygen, the loss is too slow to notice. This came up in another post (forgot the subject, something about removing the skin from a helium balloon). Chronos explained it well that time, too. That really rocked my world, because although I was a chemistry major, I hadn’t thought deeply on that point before. I guess had I thought we lived in a mixture of gases due to atmospheric mixing without really thinking it through (although I do remember a nagging itch at the back of the brain any time I started to ponder…). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/74 "2013-09-20T20:23:32Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > In any case, I expect things like helium-filled party balloons will become rare once current stockpiles are used up; perhaps extraction from natural gas will increase but demand is much higher than production. > [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Hydrogen balloons for little kids probably would not fly. This would also raise the price of those do-it-yourself mail-order suicide kits beyond the reach of all but the most well-insured. (Or, we could go dipping bucketsful of helium from the Sun, sort of [like this](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/US_Navy_031029-N-8590B-016_Two_UH-3H_Sea_King_helicopters_assigned_to_the_Golden_Gaters_of_Helicopter_Combat_Support_Squadron_Eighty_Five_%28HC-85%29_dip_their_Bambi_bucket_into_a_lake_to_aid_in_the_firefighting_effort.jpg).) ---
**Author:** ![44Luther](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/c6cbf5/32.png) [@44Luther](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/44Luther)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/75 "2013-09-20T22:23:38Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Helium shortage? I once invented a process to make helium from hydrogen, but it put out so much excess energy as a byproduct that I didn’t think anyone would be interested. Maybe I should look for my notes. HAAA, HAAAA, HAAAAA, ROFLSHISMT (Rolling On Floor Laughing So Hard I swallowed My Tongue) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640/76 "2013-09-20T22:46:37Z")
> [@44Luther](#): > > HAAA, HAAAA, HAAAAA, ROFLSHISMT (Rolling On Floor Laughing So Hard I swallowed My Tongue) I thought it was Rolling On Floor Laughing So Hard I Shit My Trousers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-run-out-of-helium/614640.md?page=3)