Shortage of helium?

Question

Can anyone tell me if this will have any effects other than no more helium balloons? Does the helium on earth have any effects on the planet?

Answer 1

helium is one of the most common gases in the universe. I dont think that even a shortage will mean no more helium balloons. and it has no effects on the planet, not like co2 does anyway.

Answer 2

It has other applications as well. Some types of welding use inert gasses. The first time I heard of this shortage it was described as the NATIONAL helium reserve. This can only mean it has military uses .

Answer 3

Helium,like neon,argon,krypton are inert gases so they don't react with other elements to form helides or argides or whatever.Being light,it is used in weather balloons, and Tig and Mig welding because it conducts electric spark over a gap readily and doesn't form a slag deposit on the weld.There's probably plenty of it in the upper atmosphere so don't worry about it running out.I think divers can use it in their tanks with oxygen,so it is safer than nitrogen under pressure,but it makes your voice sound funny.

Answer 4

When the earth first formed, there was probably much more helium than now. The problem is that the earth's gravity is not strong enough to keep helium here, once released, it eventually leaks off into space and is lost. The helium we do have is from extremely old brine and gas wells etc which trapped helium just by chance millions and millions of years ago (when the atmosphere still had some helium). so, it is essentially a non-renewible resource. Since there is not much around, there won't be much change in the atmosphere or climate when it's gone, but it will affect some human activities. It is used (in the form of liquid helium) to cool superconducting magnets for NMR's and, I believe, MRI's. It is also used in various esoteric research projects, and as the carrier gas in gas chromatography. Helium has the one of the highest thermal conductivities of all the gases, so probably it has some applications in cooling or heat exchanging as well.