Why is Helium so difficult to synthesize?
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Two ways to make an element.
**Chemical** reaction: Turning a molecule that includes your element into a different molecule that includes your element. Electrolysis turns water (H20) into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (02). Helium doesn’t naturally bond (noble gas) with anything and is already in it’s pure base form. So you can’t harvest it from chemical reactions.
**Nuclear** reaction: Adding or removing protons to an atom’s nucleus to change it from one element to another. Iron (26 protons) is the mid point for nuclear reactions. It’s the most stable and given enough time and energy, everything turns into iron. The sun being a good example.
Elements with more protons, like gold (79) or silver (47) or lead (82), all release energy when **losing** protons and going back requires proportionally more energy the farther you go from iron. This isn’t done in a single step, but the concept is the same. It works the same way but in reverse the further away you get with smaller elements too. Aluminum (13) or Titanium (22) both release energy when **gaining** protons up to iron and require proportionally more energy to lose protons and get smaller.
Helium is (2). Only thing smaller than helium is hydrogen (1). So as far as nuclear reactions go, it is the most difficult element (requires the most energy) to synthesis. Other than hydrogen, which as discussed above, is abundant and can be harvested readily with a chemical reactions.
That’s why Helium is rare. We can’t harvest it chemically because it doesn’t bond with things in nature. And it’s the farthest from Iron for nuclear reactions.
**TL;DR** – Helium is the smallest noble gas. Making it both impossible to harvest chemically and the most difficult to manufacture with nuclear reactions.
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