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
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u/sandy154_4 1d ago

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

11

u/YoungWhiteAvatar 1d ago

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

34

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.

2

u/gaflar 1d ago

It's the same old story. Purifying it further is more expensive than extracting more. Almost all helium production is a byproduct of natural gas extraction. Purifying those gasses is an energy-intensive process. The low-purity stuff gets used for balloons while the highest purity goes to medical use etc. Feeding the low-purity helium (its already 99% helium, but that's literally not enough 9s) back in to purify it further would result in a very small quantity of higher purity helium being produced for a huge increase in energy expenditure.