8 ms·
"Renergen estimates its helium reserve could be as much as 9.74 billion cubic meters—larger than the known reserves in the entire United States. That's enough t
by blakesterz 5y ago
"Renergen estimates its helium reserve could be as much as 9.74 billion cubic meters—larger than the known reserves in the entire United States.
That's enough to fill about 1.4 trillion party balloons."
I love it when articles have random units of measurements like that!
- giarc 5y agoNot really random given most people interact with helium in the form of a balloon, however I would say that no one on Earth could comprehend 1.4 trillion balloons.
- latchkey 5y agoAre they big or small party balloons?
- HappyDreamer 5y agoAssuming medium size, then, @giarc: > I would say that no one on Earth could comprehend 1.4 trillion balloons Consider this: If everyone on the planet got 1 party balloon every month, we'd deplete that helium source in about 10 years.
- twic 5y agoThe song '99 Luftballoons' / '99 Red Balloons' was released 38 years ago, and sold 2,866,500 certified copies. If everyone who bought a copy listened to it twice a week since it came out, and released 99 balloons every time they did, they would have released 1.1 trillion ballons.
- 11thEarlOfMar 5y agoSorry to burst your balloon, but there isn't enough rubber.
- dorkwood 5y agoHow much rubber is there?
- 11thEarlOfMar 5y agoIt's hard to quantify, because the market is so elastic.
- catlikesshrimp 5y agoEven saying that is a stretch
- dtgriscom 5y agoThat's 1.4 x 10^12. So, it's a cube of balloons a bit over 10,000 balloons on a side. If the balloons are 1' cubes, then the whole assembly is about two miles on a side. Quite a party.
- BoxOfRain 5y ago>I love it when articles have random units of measurements like that! There's a uniquely British phenomenon where large areas are given in terms of Wales. I think it's probably down to our national inability to decide if we're metric or imperial.
- mrec 5y agoFor your convenience: https://www.theregister.com/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html https://www.theregister.com/Design/page/reg-standards-conver... More info: https://www.theregister.com/2007/08/24/vulture_central_standards/ https://www.theregister.com/2007/08/24/vulture_central_stand...
- schroeding 5y agoDoesn't every country have it's own "weird unit of area"? :-) In completely metric Germany, we often use "Saarlands", which is also, like Wales, the smallest country / state. 1 Wales = 8 Saarlands
- testrun 5y agoFor water volume here in Australia we use Sydney harbour units
- queuebert 5y agoI'd like to point out that helium is used in science for many applications. For example, the superconducting magnets in MRI machines are cooled by helium. Since it is not renewable and escapes from the atmosphere easily, we should conserve it, and probably not use it for party balloons.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- nradov 5y agoHelium is semi renewable. More is constantly created by underground decay of radioactive isotopes. But we're probably using it up faster. Regardless of helium supplies, party balloons are problematic because they tend to escape and contaminate the environment with rubber and plastic. I frequently see empty mylar balloons floating in the ocean.
- Retric 5y agoOil and Helium are both replaced on geologic timescales their effectively a constant in terms of human lifespans. You can estimate decay rates from net heat generated by the earth, but only a tiny fraction of the helium produced is close enough to the surface to be captured by us. On top of this helium is really good at escaping confinement so you need very specific geological formations to end up with significant quantities.
- queuebert 5y agoThanks for the correction. I ignored decay products because it is a very small rate. Anyway, if we're invoking physics, the Sun harbors a very large reservoir of He. ;-)
- perilunar 5y agoAs do the gas and ice giants.
- 5y ago
- twic 5y agoOr enough to do about 1.6 trillion chipmunk impressions!
- gerdesj 5y ago"I love it when articles have random units of measurements like that!" There's a right way and a wrong way to deal with quantities. This is a right way: https://www.theregister.com/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html https://www.theregister.com/Design/page/reg-standards-conver...
- TaylorAlexander 5y agoThat's enough balloons to have another Cleveland balloon disaster! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0CT8zrw6lw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0CT8zrw6lw
- thaumasiotes 5y ago> I love it when articles have random units of measurements like that! That's not really a random unit of measurement. It's the only use of helium the audience can be expected to be familiar with.
- kasabali 5y agoI wonder how many hard drives is that