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Helium Crisis Approaching

Posted by kdawson on from the no-more-squeaky-voices dept.

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."

22 of 501 comments (clear)

  1. No more helium? by eldepeche · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh, no!

    1. Re:No more helium? by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 3, Funny

      Uranium hexafluoride does the same thing, but it's an even stronger effect on your voice.

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
  2. oh no! by opusman · · Score: 4, Funny

    does this mean all the party balloons will be filled with hydrogen instead?

    oh the humanity!

  3. We need more gas by Malevolent+Tester · · Score: 4, Funny

    Build a refinery.

    --
    If you haven't made a developer cry, you've wasted a day.
    1. Re:We need more gas by lonesome_coder · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, the thing is, we need more minerals, but we are also in the middle of an SCV crisis.

      We're screwed.

      --
      If you'd just do what we tell you and quit yer gripin' everything would be chocolate sprinkles and rainbows! -AC
    2. Re:We need more gas by fbjon · · Score: 4, Funny

      Space Construction Vehicle. More Starcraft playing is required.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
  4. damn. by apodyopsis · · Score: 3, Funny

    damn. there goes my billionaire sky yacht. damn those pesky kids and their party tricks.... damn them.

  5. Re:Where's the problem? by denzacar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Doesn't this mean that there were a lot of people smooching the US national helium reserve for a long time? Yeah... there is always at least one jerk at every party who still thinks that is funny.
    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  6. Hydrogen balloons would be more fun by JumperCable · · Score: 3, Funny

    Subject says it all.

  7. Helium is a rebel, a loner by Reader+X · · Score: 4, Funny

    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...

    1. Re:Helium is a rebel, a loner by Manchot · · Score: 5, Funny

      Which I guess makes hydrogen the Paris Hilton of elements? Alone at the top??

      It also bonds with pretty much anything it meets.

  8. Re:This is a capitalist economy by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.
  9. Re:This is a capitalist economy by aproposofwhat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Proof by very large bribes. QED.

    QED?

    Quod Erat Donatum?

    --
    One swallow does not a fellatrix make
  10. Re:wha?! by leomekenkamp · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.
  11. Re:What? by dintech · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  12. Re:Look on the bright side by SirBruce · · Score: 4, Funny

    The balloons that drop at political events aren't filled with helium, smart guy. Otherwise they wouldn't DROP.

  13. Re:Time to ramp up fusion research by Picass0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    1) Inhales balloon
    2) ?????
    3) <squeakyvoice> Profit! </squeakyvoice>

  14. Re:Look on the bright side by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.
  15. You had to tell them that didn't you? by denzacar · · Score: 3, Funny

    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
  16. Re:Look on the bright side by Ranger · · Score: 5, Funny

    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!"
  17. Call Batman. by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 3, Funny

    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

  18. Re:Look on the bright side by Warbothong · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hmmm.... There's a joke here about hot air, but I can't quite get it off the ground.....