4 ms·

These kind of things seem to happen often. I know helium is very hard to keep in containment due to it's atom size. Nonetheless, I wonder if there's technologie

by pothibo 12y ago

These kind of things seem to happen often. I know helium is very hard to keep in containment due to it's atom size. Nonetheless, I wonder if there's technologies being developed right now that could fix that once and for all.

Gravityloss 12y ago
If launches were more frequent, all these things would be ironed out.
astrodust 12y ago
Do you mean it's hard to contain because you have a gas comprised of tiny noble atoms versus hydrogen which is generally found in pairs?
- rbanffy 12y ago
  Helium atoms are also smaller than Hydrongen atoms and that makes it even easier for Helium to find its way around the smallest joints and seals.
  - krasin 12y ago
    >Helium atoms are also smaller than Hydrogen atoms How is that? Hydrogen atom is one proton + one electron [1], and "Helium is composed of two electrons bound by the electromagnetic force to a nucleus containing two protons along with either one or two neutrons, depending on the isotope" [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_atom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_atom [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium_atom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium_atom
    - bri3d 12y ago
      In a Chemistry 101 sort of way: Helium has more protons, thus more nuclear charge. Its valence electrons are in the same shell but are being "pulled closer" by the protons, so the total diameter of nucleus + electron shell is "smaller." The reality is, of course, much more complex. Here's Physicsforum (generally a good source) teaching more: http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=306457 http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=306457
      - krasin 12y ago
        Thanks for the explanation. Now, it makes sense to me.
      - lutorm 12y ago
        Not to mention that hydrogen tends to be diatomic (H_2), while He comes in singles.
XorNot 12y ago
This will pretty much never happen barring something unlikely like force-fields. For comparison, when they go to ultra low vacuum in the lab, after all the effort of pumping everything down, lasering off contaminants and what not...you start getting helium just leaking into your chamber. Because you're using helium-3 as a dilution refrigerant, and you've made it sufficiently low pressure that the stuff just diffuses through your massively thick stainless steel container and into your vacuum vessel - at a low rate, but it does.

by pothibo 12y ago

Gravityloss 12y ago

If launches were more frequent, all these things would be ironed out.

astrodust 12y ago

Do you mean it's hard to contain because you have a gas comprised of tiny noble atoms versus hydrogen which is generally found in pairs?

rbanffy 12y ago
Helium atoms are also smaller than Hydrongen atoms and that makes it even easier for Helium to find its way around the smallest joints and seals.
- krasin 12y ago
  >Helium atoms are also smaller than Hydrogen atoms How is that? Hydrogen atom is one proton + one electron [1], and "Helium is composed of two electrons bound by the electromagnetic force to a nucleus containing two protons along with either one or two neutrons, depending on the isotope" [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_atom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_atom [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium_atom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium_atom
  - bri3d 12y ago
    In a Chemistry 101 sort of way: Helium has more protons, thus more nuclear charge. Its valence electrons are in the same shell but are being "pulled closer" by the protons, so the total diameter of nucleus + electron shell is "smaller." The reality is, of course, much more complex. Here's Physicsforum (generally a good source) teaching more: http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=306457 http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=306457
    - krasin 12y ago
      Thanks for the explanation. Now, it makes sense to me.
    - lutorm 12y ago
      Not to mention that hydrogen tends to be diatomic (H_2), while He comes in singles.

XorNot 12y ago

This will pretty much never happen barring something unlikely like force-fields. For comparison, when they go to ultra low vacuum in the lab, after all the effort of pumping everything down, lasering off contaminants and what not...you start getting helium just leaking into your chamber. Because you're using helium-3 as a dilution refrigerant, and you've made it sufficiently low pressure that the stuff just diffuses through your massively thick stainless steel container and into your vacuum vessel - at a low rate, but it does.