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This story seems to resurface every few months, and the answer to the question of whether or not we’re running out of the second most common element in the know
by GW150914 8y ago
This story seems to resurface every few months, and the answer to the question of whether or not we’re running out of the second most common element in the known universe is still “No.” It is true that most helium is the byproduct of natural gas production, and demand for Helium is rising while (hopefully) demand for fossil fuels will dwindle. It is also true that Helium may become more expensive if we keep wasting it on party balloons. That is not the same as “running out” however, and we’re not running out of it.
Maybe someday the media can honestly reflect reality in this case with a headline that talks about being less wasteful of a valuable resource so that it doesn’t become painfully expensive, rather than framing in terms of actual scarcity on Earth. It’s also one of those areas where the market can probably handle this because few people will be willing to pay big bucks for a single party balloon. Given that balloons are harmful to the environment to begin with, letting that tradition naturally die off seems like a win-win.
Edit: As another poster has pointed out, natural gas subsidies are a problem, which artificially depress the price of Helium. That is still not “running out” though.
- adrianN 8y agoHelium might be the second most abundant element in the universe, but that doesn't say much about the abundance here on Earth and how much of that can be feasibly extracted.
- throwaway5752 8y ago"second most common element in the known universe " How about here on Earth? Since it doesn't chemically bond to other elements, the gas form escapes the atmosphere and is blown away by solar wind, effectively lost forever. All that we have is the byproduct of nuclear fission that is prevented from reaching the atmosphere by stratigraphic trap. It has that reservoir characteristic in common with natural gas, but as we know Carbon is much more reactive and goes through the carbon cycle. We could run out of Helium in any practical sense.
- gameswithgo 8y agoYou seem to be getting very upset over the phrase "running out" vs "painfully expensive" when the former can easily, and often is, interpreted as the latter, and articles which talk about a resource "running out" usually describe what they mean by that, therein. I too tend toward pedantry but I try to stop myself and say "I can be technically correct all the time or I can be sane"
- Wistar 8y agoIsaac Asimov wrote about carelessness with helium in his 1977 essay "The Vanishing Element," published in American Airlines on-board magazine "The American Way." I can't find a copy of it online but I did read it at the time.
- dfggdfsfsdfs 8y ago"second most common element in the known universe" Yeah, but its impossible to harvest He in space (Collect the sun's plasma? Land on Mars, and drill there? A big He collecting sail?)
- noonespecial 8y ago>Helium may become more expensive if we keep wasting it on party balloons. Not to nitpick, but only a tiny fraction of all helium use is "wasted on party balloons". Most is used for cryo-cooling applications. Heck, we use more helium by far scuba-diving than on party balloons.
- GW150914 8y agoAll helium that goes into a balloon is wasted, never to be recovered. In scientific applications it is typically recycled. I don’t know about SCUBA, but I’d venture to say that it’s a necessity for deep dives whereas in a balloon it’s a novelty.
- ska 8y agorunning out of the second most common element in the known universe is still "No." That's a disingenuous way of framing it. The universe clearly isn't in any danger of running out of helium, but nobody is talking about that because it isn't relevant to what it costs us to collect it on earth.