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Well, iron is non-renewable, copper too, every metal actually. Actually everything we mine is non-renewable. If anything, helium is the only renewable thing we
by credit_guy 3y ago
Well, iron is non-renewable, copper too, every metal actually. Actually everything we mine is non-renewable.
If anything, helium is the only renewable thing we mine. Helium is just alpha particles produced continuously inside the Earth from the decay chain of uranium and thorium. It was produced for billions of years and will continue to be produced for billions more. It continuously seeps upwards. It stops where other gases are stopped, which is a way of saying you find it in reservoirs of natural gas. There are natural gas field in America yielding more than 1% helium. Helium is just not valuable enough to be worth separating it from natural gas in the majority of cases.
If the market will demand it, it will happen. For all practical purposes, helium is an infinite resource on Earth. However, at a finite price, it is a scarce resource.
- rahimnathwani 3y agoHelium floats away.
- thsksbd 3y agoHis point is that more of it floats away naturally or as a result of CH4 extraction than we care to collect primarily because its not economically viable to collect. Party balloons is not what's causing Earth's He to go where no man has gone before (literally, the solar wind will blow it way past the moon).
- credit_guy 3y agoWhat you are saying is that helium is not gravitationally bound to Earth. That is correct. But even if it were, it would not make any difference. Any gas that leaks in the atmosphere is economically lost. Take Neon. I just googled and found out that liquid neon is a cryogenic refrigerant (like liquid helium). Do you think the neon lost through leaks can be recovered any more than the helium lost through leaks?
- ars 3y agoNeon is condensed out of the air, any neon lost is just there in the atmosphere waiting to be re-condensed by someone else. The difference is Neon stays in the atmosphere, while Helium floats to the top and is lost.
- _ihaque 3y agoNeon is produced from (cryogenic) separation of air, so, yes?
- credit_guy 3y agoWell, fun fact: there is more helium in atmosphere (5.2 ppm) than methane (1.8 ppm). And it's not much less than neon (18 ppm). [1] https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2915/the-atmosphere-getting-a-handle-on-carbon-dioxide/ https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2915/the-atmosphere-getting-a-...
- jazzyjackson 3y agoDoes it float away at a higher rate than it is produced by the aforementioned particle decay?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]