What Happens If We Run Out Of Helium?

Helium is used for everything - from scanning groceries to MRI and nuclear engineering! Why is it so important and where can we find more??


Read More:

Strange But True: Superfluid Helium Can Climb Walls
"You don't have to worry about a soft drink spontaneously overflowing its rim or shooting up and out of the straw from which you're trying to drink. That's because soft drinks are nothing like the superfluid helium shown in this video."

8 Surprising Hi-Tech Uses For Helium
"Earth metals aren't the only rare elements that are essential to modern technology. Helium, the lighter-than-air gas that buoys balloons, also plays roles in powering space shuttles, modern electronics and next-generation nuclear reactors."

There's A Helium Shortage On - And It's Affecting More Than Just Balloons
"Stop talking in that squeaky voice and get serious. From MRI machines to semiconductor manufacturing, here are a few of the things we'll have to do with less of thanks to a global helium shortage."
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[eliseeey]

They forgot to mention that the helium that goes into balloons is "dirty helium", a byproduct of mining "clean helium". The dirty helium cannot be used in MRI machines for example, only clean helium can. And clean helium is never used in balloons as it is too expensive.
Source: I work in a party shop

[BrickForSheep]

"Unlike my ex, Very stable and non-toxic"

[Justin-brqt]

So should I get a bunch of helium canisters and sell them when they're expensive?

[valsmith]

plan to get rich: stockpile helium tanks. then wait

[CowTipper]

We need to stop filling stupid balloons with helium :/

[Amy_Dunn]

Maybe we can replace helium in balloons with hydrogen... would make birthday parties more exciting. xD

[UndeadKIRA]

yeah cool and all, BUT What Happens If We Run Out Of Helium?

[ballongeventbyra]

Hello YouTube Land.

This video was somewhat accurate but had some serious flaws.

First of all, full disclosure, I am a professional balloon artist. I work with balloons for a living. I do use helium at times, however I only use it about 10-20%of the time. Being a balloon artist and being worried about helium supply I have been doing deep and thorough research on helium, and if its right for me to use.

1. We are not running out of helium anytime soon. We are however running out of ready supply, and we have limited production going on. You see most of the radioactive elements that produce helium are underground, which means when it is produced it just does not penetrate thousands of feet of rock to escape into the atmosphere. Instead it builds up in pockets, often alongside natural Gas. Its only rare in our atmosphere, not so much underground, so in theory there is much, much more available if we look for it.

You see up to about 2 or three years ago the only supply we had were accidental discoveries, and helium gathered as a byproduct of natural gas refining. Matter of fact some natural gas companies simply release the helium as they do not find it economically viable to sell. If its so rare, why would they not capture it.

2. They have started looking for helium directly. The people doing this found a giant supply in Tanzania, and recently a new supply was found in Tibet. So the supply is growing.

3. Helium Balloons for celebrations should be safe for some time. First of all, Also according to John Hamak at the Bureau of Land Management whom I contacted on this, party/decor balloons account for less then 1 percent of all helium usage. That is a tiny percent, however some may argue, any is to much.

However as some have said, the majority of helium in party balloons is not pure only about 97% pure. This is "waste" gas boils off during shipping, as liquid helium boils rather easily. Yes they could reprocess this back into a purer form, however the energy and logistical costs of shipping and handling make this a non viable option. The option they have left is to either discard, or sell it as lifting or balloon gas.

This gas is primarily used in weather balloons, science that needs equipment lifted, and lighter then air craft, such as the good year blimp. Again, out of all the helium used for lifting things, balloons only account for a tiny percentage of even that use.

I am actually running a poll for balloon professionals to gauge how much helium they use, and what type etc. The majority use balloon gas, with some using pure. Most prefer the impure gas but they have to work with what they have available.

4. Also From my numbers so far, most balloon professionals use helium less then 30% of the time with many far less. My poll is still live so I cannot be more precise.

5. A note about safety. Helium is not toxic, however if you breath to much in at one time its possible to replace all the oxygen in your system at once. This can lead to passing out, comas, brain damage, and even death.

6. Lastly we should not use hydrogen for birthday balloons. It is highly flammable, and can explode under the correct conditions. See this article for what happens to a poor girl who had several of them catch fire and explode in her face


Yes hydrogen is not super explosive as some have noted but it does burn, and burn very well and quickly. |

here are a couple more articles for your perusal.

[Spongy]

"unlike my ex it's stable and not toxic"😂😂

[supersaiyanbardock]

It looks like Tanzania needs some freedom.

[greyhead]

The posts that say just stock pile helium that’s probably why it’s running out

[AsellusPrimus]

Great video, although a fleck of garbage covered the camera and microphone from 3:46 to 4:01.

[CrafterSandstone]

Although helium is used for electrical welding (specifically TIG welding), it is much more common for argon to be used.

[JamesTM]

"Unlike my exes, very stable and non-toxic" Ooh, sick science burn!

[Ralphgtx]

If natural gas was commonly 7% helium we would have a massive abundance the helium content that the US strategic helium reserve extracted helium from was considered high at 1.84% most natural gas does not contain significant amounts of helium.

When I breathe helium at depth its not because of its stability its because helium is far less( at extreme depths it has been said to be slightly) narcotic than nitrogen at high partial pressures.

[crosswire]

Ok so in the 90s we predicted an oil shortage by 2020, now its a helium shortage. Its like the boy who cries wolf. There isn't a team of engineers on the hunt for helium like the dozens of teams hunting for oil. If we need more helium we'll find it. Lets worry about 1 thing at a time before starting the next worry craze.

[gilbertoresendez]

we should open up the ozone again to let some helium from space come in

[basstion]

Just make party balloons with hydrogen

[zoick]

In organic chemistry research, we need helium for our NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) machines, which is our most frequently used analysis technique : it basically tell us if our compound is the right one, if it's pure, etc... so without helium, no NMR and without NMR, organic chemists go blind and our research grinds to a stop very quickly! "not my problem" I hear you say... but organic chemistry is the basis for pharmaceutical drugs, hygiene and cosmetic products, food aromas, coloring, plastics, pesticides, fertilizers, and so on... a world without organic chemistry research and production is one in which we all get very smelly, hungry, ugly and sick, very fast! so yeah let's save that previous helium for science :)

[dankStoner]

Lets just use hydrogen for balloons they say? It's not like anything bad has ever happened with a giant hydrogen filled balloon...