Posted on 11/05/2006 10:47:11 AM PST by WestTexasWend
AMARILLO, Texas — The second-most abundant element in the universe is suddenly getting harder and harder to find.
Party stores and florist shops grounded in the balloon business are caught in a helium shortage gripping suppliers across the country and in Texas, where one-third of the world's helium production is overseen.
Supply of the noble gas — second only to hydrogen in the universe but rare on Earth in terms of quantity — has depleted while production from two large international sites is temporarily down.
Not helping matters is scheduled maintenance at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's National Helium Reserve complex in Amarillo, which will curtail production for 10 days starting Wednesday.
"We're so close to the edge now, and every molecule counts," said Leslie Theiss, manager of agency's field office in Amarillo. "We're walking the tightrope right now."
Businesses that depend on helium have met with shortages from suppliers. In downtown Houston, American Balloon and Novelty Co. owner Deborah Muse said there have been times when she couldn't get helium for weeks.
Mike Havard, co-owner of Havard Welding in Galena Park, said he's kept his customers supplied but acknowledged that demand is heavy.
"There is a shortage. There is some concern of allocation," said Havard.
Scientists and industry officials say the shortages should be resolved soon. There's another domestic source is Exxon Mobil's plant in Wyoming. Helium also is being captured at massive natural gas liquefaction plants being built around the world.
But in about 20 years, experts say most of the federal government's helium reserve should be depleted.
Near Amarillo, which prides itself as the "Helium Capital of the World," the government began using old gas fields in 1960 to create a reserve.
But after helium storage racked up $1.4 billion in intragovernmental debt, Congress passed a 1996 privatization bill that called for steady liquidation of the reserve through 2015. Theiss said it probably will take until the mid-2020s to complete the liquidation.
Helium now appears to be a finite resource that could soon disappear in Amarillo. The reserve is supposed to keep 600 million cubic feet, but workers at the facility are skeptical that will happen.
"Our equipment is designed to produce 6.1 million cubic feet per day, and we've been pretty successful at getting that done," said Theiss. "But demand is outstripping the market right now."
Helium is produced by radioactive decay of elements such as thorium or uranium.
Robert Park, a University of Maryland physics professor and officer of the American Physical Society, worries that helium will one day be scarce at a time when mankind really needs it.
"Nothing is really being done to save helium from being lost forever," Park said.
If only Bush had signed Koyto.............
It's the Germans. They're building dirigibles again. :-P
Is helium used for anything really important? Is keeping floating balloons it's primary use?
Has this impacted y'all yet?
Well we could always do what the germans did when their supply of helium was curtailed ......
We could fill the party baloons with hydrogen.
Not sure what happens though when the kids let go and the baloons hit the lights. Oh the huge manatee.
And do any freepers know if your voice changes when you breathe hydrogen like it does with helium ????
When balloons deflate, does helium escape out of a hole in the ozone layer?
Yes.
Especially if you smoke...
Helium is used in some welding processes.
Yes, it does. Just don't get near any flames or sparks or your lungs might go boom!
According to an unreliable, troll-infested source...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium#Applications
Helium is often used in deep sea diving to replace nitrogen in the tanks to help prevent the bends.
Hence, the use of hydrogen.
I believe it changed after WWII when Poland began large scale extraction.
The US changed the export laws about that time too.
Go back to hot air. There is an inexhaustible resource in DC.
I use it in liquid form to cool focal planes down to 4 degrees K. It's a pain to work with.
Cooling superconducting magnets for magnetic resonance measurements. As in MRI scans to look for disease; NMR measurements essential in a lot of chemical and biomed research.
Robert Park is one of the main enemies of Cold Fusion(LENR), a paid Hot Fusion/DOE hitman. CF produces tritium in great abundance. As you may know, H3 decays in a 12.5 year half life to He3 by the beta decay process. There is a proposal to return to the moon to mine He3 for certain hot fusion concepts. Why, when it can be produced with simple CF equipment right here? There is another "balloon" use for He3, and you can discover it by googling Super Fluid Helium Three - Scientific American, circa 1976. Put that concept, 2 co-orbiting He3 atoms because of the single neutron's magnetic moment, together with the concept of cooper pair electrons of superconductivity in the fluxion tubes of a type II superconductor...and something might DAWN on you, if you REALLY know your physics....
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