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Helium Crisis Approaching
vrmlguy writes "Within nine years the National Helium Reserve will be depleted, according to an article in Science Daily. It quotes Dr. Lee Sobotka, of Washington University in St. Louis: 'Helium is non-renewable and irreplaceable. Its properties are unique and unlike hydrocarbon fuels (natural gas or oil), there are no biosynthetic ways to make an alternative to helium. All should make better efforts to recycle it.' (The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a local article with quotes from Dr. Sobotka and representatives of the balloon industry.) On Earth, Helium is found mixed with natural gas, but few producers capture it. Extracting it from the atmosphere is not cost-effective. The US created a stockpile, the National Helium Reserve, in 1925 for use by military dirigibles, but stopped stockpiling it in 1995 as a cost-saving measure."
Oh, no!
does this mean all the party balloons will be filled with hydrogen instead?
oh the humanity!
Build a refinery.
If you haven't made a developer cry, you've wasted a day.
damn. there goes my billionaire sky yacht. damn those pesky kids and their party tricks.... damn them.
Proof by very large bribes. QED.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Subject says it all.
FTA: helium is a rebel, a loner, and it does not combine with other atoms while hydrogen does
Helium: the James Dean of elements. All by itself in the upper right hand corner of the periodic table.
Which I guess makes hydrogen the Paris Hilton of elements? Alone at the top??
Why oh why couldn't I have been a science journalist...
Hey, why is there such a shortage of resources? Can't capitalism solve that? Is it that the damn Earth doesn't get this whole supply/demand thing? Aargh, we're living on a commie planet!
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
QED?
Quod Erat Donatum?
One swallow does not a fellatrix make
Yes, there is a fairly large amount of it only a few lightminutes away from earth; and the best thing is: tons of helium are being created every second! Unfortunately you have to overcome some issues, like gravitational pull and high temperatures.
Wenn ist das Nunstueck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
Yes, but that does not make it the second most common element on earth. I don't think there are that many astronauts volunteering a trip to the sun to get some helium - even if it is for the sake of clowns everywhere ;-)
I was going to mod you up but then I remembered I time when I didn't have mod points and thought better of it.
My wife bought a small helium tank for my son's birthday in Nov. I'm going to keep it and sell short controlled hits for $50.00 a burst!
The balloons that drop at political events aren't filled with helium, smart guy. Otherwise they wouldn't DROP.
1) Inhales balloon
2) ?????
3) <squeakyvoice> Profit! </squeakyvoice>
Borthday Balloons will get smaller every year. Soon you won't be able to get them at your local grocery store.
I personally blame the Mythbusters. What between the Raft, The several thousand balloons used to lift the kid, and the Lawn chair, they probably reduced our supply by 3 yrs alone.
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
> Peak Everything
> End of the World
> Things Could Go Poorly
hey! stop using up our precious reserves of capital letters!
I'll let you into a secret. Everything is a deadly poison.
Get your own free personal location tracker
No, they are filled with helium, but after the speeches they've just given up all hope and are too depressed to float anymore.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
You go out of your way to present people with a plan how to get rid off politicians and someone comes along with an XXL ego and an S brain and starts shouting "It won't work! It won't work! They only go up!"
Of course they don't drop down. Ceiling drops down.
Sheeesh! Do I have to tell you how to do EVERYTHING?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I love the line from the end of the Wikipedia article:
:-)
The resulting "Helium Privatization Act of 1996" (Public Law 104-273) directed the United States Department of the Interior to start liquidating the reserve by 2005.
OK, OK, so they are going to start liquidating the reserve, but the big question is - are they going to sell off the helium to make some cash?
Ever fill a balloon with carbon dioxide then drop it? It gives visual meaning to the phrase 'went over like a lead balloon.'
Now that would be a cool sight. Dropping C02 filled balloons at a political rally. They wouldn't float down. They'd plummet straight to the ground and wouldn't even bounce. It wouldn't look natural.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
Doesn't this sound sort of like part of an old Adam West script?
And on a side-note which is probably more relevant. . .
Since the Hindenburg went up in flames because it had been painted with thermite and not because of the gas it had been filled with, perhaps our airships should be using hydrogen which has more lifting power than helium anyway.
I've always felt slightly gyped by not getting to live in that reality where we had regular airship traffic and where classy chicks all smoked from foot-long cigarette holders. I want to wear a waxed mustache and say things like, "Now see here, what?" and not sound like an idiot like I currently do when I speak that way.
-FL
we will NEVER run out of oil. NEVER. It will just get more expensive until something else replaces it
Shall I say anything?
Nah.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Hmmm.... There's a joke here about hot air, but I can't quite get it off the ground.....