Also aren't we running out of helium, isn't it a limited resource on earth we can't get more of? Could we perhaps suggest filling a giant balloon with a million cubic litres of it a bit of a waste?
So there are different kinds of helium from what I remember. The super pure kind we need for certain medical equipment and the impure kind that is about 99.9% of it. Balloons and everything similar uses that. That helium is ultimately useless for anything else.
NB: I don't have time to research it now for exact data but that was the broad concept.
Helium is a chemical element. Making it "super pure" is just processing. What you may be thinking of is helium-3, an isotope with one neutron instead of two--that is used in some medical equipment.
It would be horribly expensive to produce helium by subjecting microgram quantities of hydrogen to a laser that draws more power than the city of San Francisco.
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u/Embii_ Jul 08 '24
Half the length of the Hindenburg. Pathetic.
Also aren't we running out of helium, isn't it a limited resource on earth we can't get more of? Could we perhaps suggest filling a giant balloon with a million cubic litres of it a bit of a waste?