I’ve been told there is a shortage of helium and it’s a non-renewable resource. If this is accurate, why are we still using it like it is never running out and does the helium from the balloons go back into the air to be used again?
In: Earth Science
Helium doesn’t naturally exist in any significant quantities in the atmosphere. It is a biproduct of natural gas mining, and is trapped with the natural gas and then processed out. Once supplies under the crust are freed, there isn’t any more on earth, cause it will end up leaving the planet.
Yes, and then out to space. We are basically wasting an extremely rare and non-renewable resource, necessary for things like MRIs and other low temperature applications like super conductors, on temporary amusement.
Helium, in balloons or not, is lighter than air. Sufficiently so that it will float to the top of the atmosphere, where it gets bombarded with solar radiation and blasted off into space never to be seen again.
Pure helium is used for medical and other scientific uses. Balloon gas used in party balloons is a by product of the helium industry and is not suitable for medical and other uses. If it wasn’t collected for balloons it would be simply vented to the atmosphere. It is still helium, but at a lower concentration.
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