Helium: Up, up, and away~

As we go into the topic of ideal gases this week, we are going to encounter the noble gas, helium numerous times. So, why don't we find out more about this gas?


Helium should not be an unfamiliar gas. Everybody knows that is the gas that makes balloons float. Do you know what happens when you try to talk after inhaling helium? Check this video out if you have never tried it before:

Before everybody runs out to buy helium balloons to try sounding like Donald Duck, let me tell you a sobering news: the supply of helium on our planet is running out. We can expect to run out of helium entirely within the next six years. Apart from having a world without balloons that fly away when released, the depletion of helium is going to affect the scientific world in a very significant way. Helium is needed for analytical methods such as mass spectroscopy (to determine the types of elements making up a compound) and NMR spectroscopy (to determine the structure of an organic compound). Commercially, it is also used as a coolant in MRI scanners (used to produce scans of brains in hospitals), and to produce an inert and protective environment for welding. 

The helium we have on earth now is formed from the excruciatingly slow decay of radioactive element, uranium. This means that the nucleus of uranium breaks up into smaller nuclei, and in the process, giving out an atom of helium. Decay of the uranium nucleus requires a lot of energy, and takes thousands of years to occur. Even after it is produced, much of it escapes into space of the upper atmosphere, which makes it impossible for us to capture. A scientist said that the supply of helium we are utilising now "has been made over the approximate 4.5 billion of years the Earth has been around". With no fast processes to replenish all the helium mankind has been using, it is no wonder that we will run out of this noble gas.

Some people may ask, can't we artificially create more helium? Well, no. It will require an insanely high amount of energy to imitate how Nature synthesizes helium -- it takes thousands and thousands of years to form helium, even with all the crazily high pressure and temperature in the Earth's mantle. So, we just have to live with the fact that this gas is, for now, non-renewable. 

The next time you play with a helium balloon, cherish it. Who knows, maybe your children will never ever get a chance to experience the joys of a balloon that flies away when not held on to tightly.