Scientific American writes The Coming Shortage of Helium.
"Quick: What do MRI machines, rockets, fiberoptics, LCDs, food production and welding have in common? They all require the inert, or noble, gas helium for their use or at some stage of their production. And that helium essentially could be gone in less than three decades, Robert C. Richardson, winner, along with Douglas Osheroff and David Lee, of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics, said at the 60th annual Nobel Laureate Lectures at Lindau today. ‘Once it is released into the atmosphere, say, in the form of party balloons, it is lost to the Earth forever—it is lost to the Earth forever ,’ he added."
It's only the second most common element in the universe!
2 comments:
Helium in the Earth comes from alpha particle decay of radioactive elements and is separated from natural gas during the collection process. As far as I know it is not the helium that Earth started out with when it was formed. That being said, I guess it is a non-renewable resource that should be used appropriately because we are not going to Jupiter (or the sun?) to get more any time soon.
Raise its price 20X though? No more party balloons.
As a chemist, I remember many years ago when I first started using an analytical technique called Gas Chromatography. Helium was used as the mobile phase in the US, but Hydrogen was more commonly used as the mobile phase in Europe.
When I investigated as to why this was the case, I was told that all the Helium (at that time) came from a well in Texas, and was quite expensive in the EU.
I hadn't thought much about that until today.
Another only on CFC moment.
Back to the current story......
Sounds to me like the US has the world by the short hairs.
Oil is so yesterday. Let's create OHEC - Organization of Helium Exporting Countries. Even if it only has a membership of one.
Anyone in Saudi Arabia need an MRI.....?. It's gonna cost ya.
Payback's a bitch, ain't it.
TT
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