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It's the second most abundant element in the universe. Maybe we'll put in a tad more effort to explore it if Helium runs out.
by ShorsHammer 7y ago
It's the second most abundant element in the universe. Maybe we'll put in a tad more effort to explore it if Helium runs out.
- Sharlin 7y agoThat doesn't really help if it isn't abundant where it's needed. There's no primordial helium on Earth, all of it is created by alpha decay of radioactive elements. As to the rest of the solar system, all that abundant helium is locked in the bottom of particularly deep gravity wells.
- ShorsHammer 7y agoThere's a huge amount on our only moon.
- Sharlin 7y agoA few parts per billion, about one gram of helium-3 per 150 tons of regolith. For comparison, economical gold mining on Earth typically requires a deposit of at least 500 ppb or so. And there are no 3He "deposits" on the moon; it's all fairly uniformly distributed across the 38 million square kilometers of lunar surface!
- Mirioron 7y agoHelium can escape Earth's atmosphere though.
- zozbot234 7y agoYeah, we could extract some Helium from the sun. The heat wouldn't be an issue, we'd go at night.
- yummypaint 7y agoHelium has way more important uses in cryogenic systems, neutron detectors, etc. It's non renewable, and alot of physicists are already concerned about increasing costs. This is especially true for helium 3, the cost of which continues to skyrocket (~$2k/atmosphere*liter) . Creating massive and unnecessary demand for helium when there are renewable alternatives available is a bad idea.