4 ms·
For what it's worth, the cost of a cylinder of Helium has risen exponentially in the past few years. One of my first jobs was working in a welding supply shop,
by tomswartz07 12y ago
For what it's worth, the cost of a cylinder of Helium has risen exponentially in the past few years.
One of my first jobs was working in a welding supply shop, and I was astonished to find out that a '100lb' cylinder (they're filled by weight/pressure) of helium was nearly $200. As a comparison, a '100lb'of propane was only about $40.
- bsder 12y ago100lb of helium is a LOT more helium, no?
- spott 12y agoby what measure? 100lb of helium is exactly the same by weight as a 100lb of propane. By volume, in a cylinder, it is approximately the same (I believe). By number of atoms, it is much more (a factor of 10 or so).
- bsder 12y agoWeight is the same, but because the number of atoms is so much higher isn't the pressure a lot higher? PV=nRT and all that? I presume the leakage loss in storage also raises the price of Helium. People buy propane just-in-case knowing they can store it forever while helium is a "buy it before you use it" kind of thing.
- MichaelGG 12y agoSo is this a good investment? Just go buy a bunch of helium tanks and keep them in my basement as a gift to my kids 25 years later? Are speculators already doing this, driving up the price?
- Terr_ 12y agoMy hunch is that you'll lose a lot of your investment over 25 years, without spending more on the storage strategy.
- tomswartz07 12y agoI suppose? Most of the standard cylinders are fairly secure. A lot of the time I spent during my job there was preparing cylinders for testing, to assure that they were pressure-secure and airtight. Neat stuff, and a TON of practical physics went into everyday things there. :)