ExiledInIllinois Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 The world's coming to an end. What will all the parties out there do! https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1169464001 From my ShoutBox Shouts, few questions I have: Somebody please enlighten me on why there is a "helium shortage" and why we are shutting down the national helium reserve in 2021 when we have a 200 year supply @ current consumption. ??? Isn't helium an inert/noble gas? Harmless abundant in universe? This smells like enviro do-gooders trying to wreck a party... LoL... Don't they extract argon, helium out of thin air for industrial purposes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoTom Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 Hydrogen and helium are the two most abundant elements in the universe; unfortunately, most of it is locked up in stars. Although I did hear of an engineering school dropout who devised a plan to mine the sun at night. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nextmanup Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 Helium needs to be manufactured if I'm not mistaken. Ever wonder why the Hindenburg was filled with explosive hydrogen and not helium? At that time, the US had a monopoly on helium production (mostly coming from Texas I believe) and we banned its export particularly to Germany under the Nazi regime. There were fears it would be used for weapons programs. So the Germans had to go with hydrogen instead. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted May 11, 2019 Author Share Posted May 11, 2019 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Nextmanup said: Helium needs to be manufactured if I'm not mistaken. Ever wonder why the Hindenburg was filled with explosive hydrogen and not helium? At that time, the US had a monopoly on helium production (mostly coming from Texas I believe) and we banned its export particularly to Germany under the Nazi regime. There were fears it would be used for weapons programs. So the Germans had to go with hydrogen instead. Yes. I knew that. US cornered the He market. My BiL is an engineer for a company that builds systems for industry to produce (extract) gases like argon. I should probably ask him what's up. I was wondering why they are shutting down the He reserve. If anybody knows, this board is great... Many players that may know first hand. Anyway... Seems like we are living a 1930s do over without that pesky Depression. Okay... J/K... Maybe. ? Edited May 11, 2019 by ExiledInIllinois Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 38 minutes ago, WhoTom said: Hydrogen and helium are the two most abundant elements in the universe; unfortunately, most of it is locked up in stars. The most abundant resource in the universe is stupidity; unfortunately most of it is on Earth 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
US Egg Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 (edited) 49 minutes ago, WhoTom said: Hydrogen and helium are the two most abundant elements in the universe; unfortunately, most of it is locked up in stars. Although I did hear of an engineering school dropout who devised a plan to mine the sun at night. Elon Musk to the rescue again ? The Mighty Mouse of the 21st Century with an ability to tap into others pockets, government and private, like no one before. (I know, don't hate the player....) Edited May 11, 2019 by I am the egg man 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted May 11, 2019 Author Share Posted May 11, 2019 (edited) 10 minutes ago, I am the egg man said: Elon Musk to the rescue again ? The Mighty Mouse of the 21st Century with an ability to tap into others pockets, government and private, like no one before. (I know, don't hate the player....) The Howard Hughes of our time. (Will he) He will be shuffling around a hotel room with Kleenex® boxes as slippers in 30 years? Edited May 11, 2019 by ExiledInIllinois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 All you have to do is fly to Saturn or Jupiter and suck up some helium from the atmosphere. Easy peasy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 1 hour ago, ExiledInIllinois said: The world's coming to an end. What will all the parties out there do! https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1169464001 From my ShoutBox Shouts, few questions I have: Somebody please enlighten me on why there is a "helium shortage" and why we are shutting down the national helium reserve in 2021 when we have a 200 year supply @ current consumption. ??? Isn't helium an inert/noble gas? Harmless abundant in universe? This smells like enviro do-gooders trying to wreck a party... LoL... Don't they extract argon, helium out of thin air for industrial purposes? A couple of months ago, somebody semi-famous (Oh, I remember now - some female Olympian - I think a bicyclist) committed suicide via helium.................I was like, what? You can die from helium? Turns out it's a relatively painless way to die, so it has been becoming a more popular way to commit suicide, so now they have been taking tighter controls of it. Not sure if that has to with this, but it seems it might. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 5 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said: All you have to do is fly to Saturn or Jupiter and suck up some helium from the atmosphere. Easy peasy And what happens when Jupiter and Saturn run out? You'll have to suck it out of Uranus 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoTom Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 1 hour ago, ExiledInIllinois said: Anyway... Seems like we are living a 1930s do over without that pesky Depression. Okay... J/K... Maybe. ? The decade ain't over yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 2 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said: The world's coming to an end. What will all the parties out there do! https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1169464001 From my ShoutBox Shouts, few questions I have: Somebody please enlighten me on why there is a "helium shortage" and why we are shutting down the national helium reserve in 2021 when we have a 200 year supply @ current consumption. ??? Isn't helium an inert/noble gas? Harmless abundant in universe? This smells like enviro do-gooders trying to wreck a party... LoL... Don't they extract argon, helium out of thin air for industrial purposes? The shortage is probably pure helium, not the "crude" helium in party balloons. Helium's not extremely rare, given that it's just a product of alpha decay. The problem is that it's difficult to retrieve. Usually, it's a byproduct of natural gas distillation - when natural gas is purified, helium is one of the remaining impurities. If you cryogenically distill those impurities (cool it to the point that other gasses precipitate out as liquids), you can eventually get pure helium. The problem being: that's really ***** cold - about 73 Kelvin. It takes a lot of energy to cool something to that temperature while maintaining a pressure high enough to condense impurities like methane and nitrogen to liquids. And while you can theoretically do that with regular air...helium's about 10,000 times more prevalent in natural gas (5ppm in atmospher, vs. ~5% in natural gas). Which means it's not just difficult to retrieve it from air, it's hideously difficult to retrieve from air. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punching Bag Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 https://askzephyr.com/make-your-own-helium-for-balloons/ Helium is the result of the very long, very slow decay of radioactive atoms like uranium. The alpha particles that are emitted from the decaying atom bond with loose electrons underground, producing helium atoms. Currently, this natural process is the only method with which helium is produced on Earth. 3 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said: I was wondering why they are shutting down the He reserve. If anybody knows, this board is great... Many players that may know first hand. "In 1996, the US Congress decided to sell off the strategic reserve and the consequence was that the market was swelled with cheap helium because its price was not determined by the market. The motivation was to sell it all by 2015," he once told The Independent. "The basic problem is that helium is too cheap. The Earth is 4.7 billion years old and it has taken that long to accumulate our helium reserves, which we will dissipate in about 100 years. One generation does not have the right to determine availability for ever." https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/06/discovery-of-massive-new-helium-reserves-is-game-changer-for-medical-industry/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punching Bag Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 Fortunately new reserves have been found in Tanzania https://www.gasworld.com/global-helium-summit-2018-closes/2015512.article https://africanbusinessmagazine.com/sectors/energy/tanzania-could-become-top-helium-producer/ It is no coincidence helium shortage is corresponding to increase in use of MRIs used by former NFL athletes to shop for doctors to get the most out of NFL trust fund set up for neurological issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 1 hour ago, Limeaid said: It is no coincidence helium shortage is corresponding to increase in use of MRIs used by former NFL athletes to shop for doctors to get the most out of NFL trust fund set up for neurological issues. You're kidding, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted May 11, 2019 Author Share Posted May 11, 2019 1 minute ago, DC Tom said: You're kidding, right? LoL... I hope so. /smh That don't seem like a huge use of He. I think they said that MRI won't be affected and causing the shortage. Closing down reserve I believe is the reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cripple Creek Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 6 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said: The world's coming to an end. What will all the parties out there do! https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/1169464001 From my ShoutBox Shouts, few questions I have: Somebody please enlighten me on why there is a "helium shortage" and why we are shutting down the national helium reserve in 2021 when we have a 200 year supply @ current consumption. ??? Isn't helium an inert/noble gas? Harmless abundant in universe? This smells like enviro do-gooders trying to wreck a party... LoL... Don't they extract argon, helium out of thin air for industrial purposes? With all your hot air I'm not worried about anything. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-baby! Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 3 hours ago, DC Tom said: The shortage is probably pure helium, not the "crude" helium in party balloons. Helium's not extremely rare, given that it's just a product of alpha decay. The problem is that it's difficult to retrieve. Usually, it's a byproduct of natural gas distillation - when natural gas is purified, helium is one of the remaining impurities. If you cryogenically distill those impurities (cool it to the point that other gasses precipitate out as liquids), you can eventually get pure helium. The problem being: that's really ***** cold - about 73 Kelvin. It takes a lot of energy to cool something to that temperature while maintaining a pressure high enough to condense impurities like methane and nitrogen to liquids. And while you can theoretically do that with regular air...helium's about 10,000 times more prevalent in natural gas (5ppm in atmospher, vs. ~5% in natural gas). Which means it's not just difficult to retrieve it from air, it's hideously difficult to retrieve from air. What a load of horse *****. You can get it at any party store. It is easily extracted from one of those big tanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punching Bag Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 1 hour ago, DC Tom said: You're kidding, right? Of course. Other than NFL athletes ARE shopping around to get biggest payment and the fund is going dry early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Senator Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 2 hours ago, Limeaid said: It is no coincidence helium shortage is corresponding to increase in use of MRIs used by former NFL athletes to shop for doctors to get the most out of NFL trust fund set up for neurological issues. You ARE kidding, yes? You must be. I don’t want to exaggerate, but I’ve had at least, at the very least, 20 or 30 MRIs. Am going for my next one this Thursday. I have no neurological issues, just quite a bit of cancer, and, never before, but now, claustrophobia. I love the drugs they give me (valium/ativan) before they stuff me in that loud coffin for half an hour or so, but those soporifics really don’t comfort me, keep me awake, nor make me less claustrophobic. Are you saying that, if I went to the Dollar Store and bought a bunch of helium balloons beforehand, it’d be better? I’ll have to try that curative. And inform my oncologists. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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