Why is there a helium shortage?

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I live near a business that has tank farms and piping for pressurized gases. They provide a lot of oxygen for health care use. If they can “manufacture” a gas, why can’t they make more helium?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

You can’t really *make* helium (or oxygen, for that matter) out of other elements without using nuclear fusion or fission. You *can* extract oxygen out of air (air is about 1/5th oxygen), or out of water (because water is made of oxygen and hydrogen).

Helium, on the other hand, is a lot harder to come across in large quantities on Earth.

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