Question

What will happen when we run out of Helium?

Answer 1

Helium:

• Helium is a noble gas. It is very stable in its ground state and does not tend to form compounds.
• It has the atom number $(\mathrm{Z}=2)$, with ${}_2\mathrm{He}\to 2$.
• Helium ($\mathrm{He}$) is the second most abundant element in the universe after Hydrogen ($\mathrm{H}$).
• “Without Helium, people would live in a different world” so we have to use it as little as possible.

Helium is the second most abundant element in the world yet it is scarce on Earth. Helium plays a major role in space exploration to quantum computing. Helium on Earth is generated deep within due to the natural radioactive decay of elements such as uranium and thorium. Helium is lightweight and physically disappears from the planet.

Some renowned applications of helium are as follows:

• Due to their low freezing point, they are used as a cooling agent for cryogenic applications such as Magnet Resonance Imaging, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, spectroscopy, particle accelerators, and Large Hadron Collider
• The density of helium is lighter than the density of air as a result they are used as a lift gas for balloons and meteorological balloons.
• Due to its high ionization potential, helium is used as a shielding gas in arc welding and plasma arc welding.
• Due to its molecular size, Helium is used for leak detection and it can pass easily through the smallest leaks.

Due to its versatility, it has many applications in various fields, therefore if we ran out of helium we would miss out on the smooth functioning of applications that depend on helium for its working.