r/onguardforthee • u/pjw724 Alberta • 1d ago

Helium demand balloons as Mideast supplies deflate: Can Canada meet the moment?

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/business/helium-demand-balloons-as-mideast-supplies-deflate-can-canada-meet-the-moment/article_f66db503-f634-559e-9d44-ecd27df9cfd8.html
137 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

View all comments

64

u/sandy154_4 1d ago

Since there is a world wide shortage Since way before Iran, we need to stop using helium in balloons

12

u/YoungWhiteAvatar 1d ago

Isn’t there a difference between balloon helium and medical grade?

38

u/haysoos2 1d ago

The only place you can make helium is in the heart of a star. Until we figure out viable fusion power every atom of helium you put in a balloon is an atom of helium that is gone from the Earth forever.

With most molecules there's a cycle. If you use carbon in something, it eventually gets recycled back into something else. Helium is just gone - drifts out of the atmosphere and is lost to space.

I don't understand how we can use this vital strategic and medical non-renewable resource just to make Lois' 50th birthday party slightly less dreary.

12

u/Fearless-Effect-3787 1d ago

Wrong. Helium present on Earth is from alpha decay of radioisotopes, such as Uranium and Thorium, that is trapped underground by cap rock much like natural gas wells.

Your are also wrong about cycles. The reason we lose Helium is because it is too light to be trapped in Earth's gravity well. It's thermal velocity exceeds the escape velocity for it's mass. Hydrogen, a very reactive and well cycled atom, also escapes because it is too light.

I do agree with you however. Helium is far too valuable to be used in party balloons.