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Congress Reaches Agreement ... On Helium
Despite the wrangling that's resulted in a government shut-down, Congress managed last week to agree on one thing: Helium. Reader gbrumfiel writes: "The U.S. holds vast helium reserves which it sells to scientists and private industry. According to NPR, a new law was needed to allow the helium to continue to flow. Congress passed it late last week, but only after a year-long lobbying effort and intense debate (and in the end, Senator Ted Cruz opposed the measure). Can a new bipartisanship rise out of this cooperation? Or will hot air prevail on Capitol Hill? (Insert your helium joke here.)" Apparently, helium is not yet so scarce that it's not available in balloons at the grocery store.
The US has maintained the Strategic Helium Reserve for about ninety years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Helium_Reserve
John
Laughing at the guy who tried to sound like a chipmunk for 30 seconds, but passed out and fell over!
John
As you know, gases are composed of atoms or molecules that are constantly bumping into one another. After a while these collisions can cause dents in the atoms causing them to lose their shine. While ok for balloons and such, medical and aerospace applications require new shiny helium atoms.
Balloon grade helium is still 90-95% pure typically. The only reason it is "waste" is because helium is so cheap to get already refined, there is no need to refine it. It is still a symptom of helium prices being really low, at all grades. It is not like helium comes out of the ground at 99.995% pure, and it is not like all science work needs the high purity stuff. Depending on the exact impurities, the helium can be purified with just activated charcoal sometimes, or other times it needs to be separated cryogenicly when there is a large neon impurity.
you are free associating and winding up at an incongruous thought
helium is associated only with old, deep natural gas deposits. it collects there because radioactive elements decay deep in the earth, releasing helium, and that helium has to go somewhere. if it doesn't percolate up and vent into the atmosphere, it collects with likewise entrapped methane gas deposits
meanwhile, natural gas from landfills would not have this helium, as it is a much more shallow and much more recent source of methane, it hasn't been around long enough to gather very slowly formed byproducts of radioactive decay
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it