Helium is used for much more than balloons

But a lot of people today do not understand that there’s a further explanation to cling onto those people balloons: The helium inside of is a rare useful resource.

“I feel that a person of the coolest factors is that helium is the 2nd-most considerable component in the entire universe, but ironically, on planet Earth, we only have quite, very small amounts,” reported Santiago Toledo, a chemist at American College in Washington, D.C.

This is accurate for a couple of causes. For example, helium atoms really don’t like to make bonds with other components or even themselves. This benefits in them owning a very low density — substantially decreased than the density of the particles that make up air, Toledo said.

So when you power a bunch of helium into an enclosed area, these kinds of as a balloon, that low density lets the helium to rise higher than the heavier air around it. This is why helium balloons float.

It’s also why Earth has so minor of the things, he claimed. Most of the planet’s helium is locked absent underground, typically as a mixture with normal gasoline, mentioned Toledo. But any time helium is exposed to open up air, it will disappear into space.

This is type of lousy news, because helium has lots of works by using further than birthday get together decorations. Whilst most of us know it as a gasoline, helium will become a liquid at extremely cold temperatures.

“We’re talking about temperatures that are just about what is termed ‘absolute zero,’ which is the coldest just about anything can be in the universe,” Toledo stated. For the reason that of this quirk, scientists use liquid helium to retain lots of varieties of devices ice-chilly.

If you’ve at any time experienced to get a medical take a look at referred to as an MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, helium was there to awesome the superconducting magnets that make the equipment operate. In addition, helium is essential for creating electronic products this sort of as smartphones, as perfectly as the fiber-optic cables that give us the net. Helium is also important to make absolutely sure NASA’s rockets perform properly and is an essential portion of machines referred to as magnetometers, which help the U.S. navy detect enemy submarines.

The fantastic information, reported Toledo, is that balloons really do not consist of only helium, but as an alternative a mixture of lightweight gases. However when he sees one get free into the sky, all he can believe about is how a valuable useful resource is just floating up, up and away.