to think everyone should know this about helium balloons?

[ninjasquirrel]

I only found this out the other day and was quite shocked. Basically, helium is essential for MRI scanners and some other things, but it is a finite resource and because we are using it all up for party balloons etc. it could be all gone within 25-30 years. See here

Scary fact.

Never knew that!

I saw that on Qi the other week.
We live in a world where lots of essential things have a finite resource but they are still used at an alarming rate. Fuel is low but how many big budget movies have huge explosions in them?
All we can do is try and be more economical with what we use and buy.
Do we really need helium ballons anyway?

If I resist pressure from my DH to learn to scuba dive with trimix (which includes helium) can I still have balloons that fly?

I heard the exact same thing at school about oil and gas. The teachers scared the shit out of us that fossil fuels will run out in about 30 years. Well that was 20 years ago and we still seem to be using it like no tomorrow.

I heard this recently but am sure I was taught at school that helium is produced during nuclear fusion, so how can it be a finite resource?

Oh god, I love making my voice high & squeeky!

I ignore scare mongering.

StrandedBear - it's not that easy to just knock up a gas that would subsititute for helium, its properties are due to the very low molecular weight of the element.

You could use hydrogen, but I can't see hydrogen-filled party balloons mixing terribly well with birthday candles...

Kids who have a latex allergy can only have foil helium balloons, so we need to make sure we always have enough for them to have party balloons!

I think it's liquid nitrogen not helium for MRI scanners.

A party is not a party until there is a prawn ring and squeaky balloon voice karaoke.

FACT

AFuckingKnackeredWoman - I think you meant to say "a party is not a party until there is a party ring and squeaky balloon voice karaoke."

I, too, can remember the wittering on about resources running out in 25 - 30 years when I was about 10. I am now 42 and everything still seems to be around.

I was also told that the US population would be so large that the entire east coast of the US would be one long city, with New York, Boston, Philadelphia etc all merging together.

Still waiting for that one...

No Iceland prawn rings are mandatory round here.

But the helium from balloons is not "used up", surely it just goes back into the atmosphere to be collected and used again.

oh I like those prawn rings

I live in the wrong place :(

It's not considered a party here unless the nibbles are home made and the drink is bubbly. No ballon voice karaoke here

eaglewings your missing out.

The helium is "used up" in the sense that currently it's obtained relatively cheaply from pockets of it in the earth that can be drilled for. These pockets are what would be used up. You would then need to extract it from the air, but whilst that works for Neon, I think there's an awful lot less of it. However there are also ways to make it (bombarding hydrogen with protons) which wouldn't be cheap enough to pay for balloons, would soon create the quite small amounts needed for MRI's (since it doesn't end up in the air, only small amounts are ever lost to leaks)

Helium 3 is indeed scarce (I know a bit about this as I procure quantities of it for neutron detection) and it costs an absolute fortune, and that is if you are able to source it (there are only a couple of companies in the world who sell it, and it is restricted by the US government as it can be used to build nuclear arms).

If the other isotopes of Helium were indeed rare, the price would be triugh the roof, and it would be difficult to buy, I think.

F*ck the balloons....PRAWN RINGS hell yes!

"I was taught at school that helium is produced during nuclear fusion, so how can it be a finite resource?"

Not much nuclear fusion goes on on the Earth, H bombs and fusion reactors notwithstanding.

I don't think its scaremongering when the people warning you have Nobel Prizes for Physics. Its not just that its cheap, the US, which hold half the worlds supply of helium are purposefully selling off stocks at a very low price.

FredFredGeorgeTue 01-Nov-11 12:29:29The helium is "used up" in the sense that currently it's obtained relatively cheaply from pockets of it in the earth that can be drilled for. These pockets are what would be used up. You would then need to extract it from the air, but whilst that works for Neon, I think there's an awful lot less of it. However there are also ways to make it (bombarding hydrogen with protons) which wouldn't be cheap enough to pay for balloons, would soon create the quite small amounts needed for MRI's (since it doesn't end up in the air, only small amounts are ever lost to leaks)*
That's really interesting FFG, I always wondered how they extracted the bits of helium from in amongst all the other gases.
For that matter, how does it work with bottled oxygen? Are there pockets around, or is it extracted from the general atmosphere?