Helium is one of the most common elements in the universe. It is called a noble gas because it doesn’t chemically interact with elements. Its atomic number is 2 and the weight is 4.002. In its natural state, it doesn’t have any smell, taste or color.
Common Uses of Helium
1 day ago A previously drilled well on the property returned gas with high helium content (2.18%) and high nitrogen content (96%). The high grade of helium gas of greater than 2% compares favorably to. Helium (from Greek: ἥλιος, romanized: Helios, lit. 'Sun') is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas, the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is the lowest among all the elements.Helium is the second lightest and second most abundant element in the observable.
Evidence shows that the human voice can be changed with a bit of helium. The gas is also used as light weight aircraft fuel. The element is usually combined with hydrogen in air balloons. Hydrogen alone is fine, but helium makes the balloon safer to use. The same gas is used by caisson workers too. Divers use oxygen and helium during their dives. The combination provides them with the atmosphere necessary to survive in high pressure environments.
The closest to 100% pure helium, 6.0 helium is used in the manufacturing of semiconductor chips – the tiny wafers that pack the power behind your smart phones, computers, tablets, televisions, and more. It’s also used in laboratories for scientific research, laser cutting, MRI machines, and as a carrier gas in gas chromatography. Helium gas is used as inert shield for arc welding, to suppress the fuel tanks of liquid fueled rockets and supersonic windtunnels. Helium is bonded with oxygen to create nitrogen-free atmosphere for deep-sea divers so that they will not suffer from a condition known as nitrogen narcosis.
Medical Applications
Helium can also be used for breathing observation. It is essential in treating ailments asthma, emphysema and other conditions that affect breathing. The gas is usually used to treat diseases that affect the lungs. Hospital MRI scans relies on liquefied helium. When the element is set at -269 C (the low boiling point), it becomes usable in MRI magnet cooling down.
Acute and chronic forms of respiratory ailment treatments have helium components. In almost all cases, oxygen and helium are used together. This combination gets to the lungs much quicker. Helium in different forms and combinations are used in medical instrumentations and nuclear medicine.
Welding and Magnet Production
Helium is used to cool down superconduction magnets. This is required during their operation. Welding companies also rely on it to provide protection. It is used the same way in the development of titanium, zirconium, germanium and silicon.
Other Applications
Hydrogen and oxygen are often used as rocket fuel. Helium-neon lasers use the element extensively. These instruments are used for barcode reading. The same element is needed to monitor small fractures in ships and other vehicles.
Helium dating is relied on to date rocks that contain uranium and titanium. The gas is used for protection during germanium crystal and silicon production. It is valued as a protective gas because of its inert nature.
Helium’s properties also make it ideal for observation in quantum mechanics. Its structure is basic and easy to study. Numerous mathematical processes are used to assess subatomic particle behavior. Using these techniques, neutrons, electrons and protons can be studied. However, these tests cannot determine their actions 100% accurately. This is due to the nature of quantum mechanics.
Uses of Helium in Space Technology
NASA space programs use the gas to fuel their shuttles. Liquid fuels are volatile. They are packed with corrosive material that could destroy a spacecraft’s casing. To avoid this problem, a craft is filled with helium gas. The same process is used in blimps and air balloons. It is preferred to hydrogen for two reasons. It is lighter and not flammable. The element is also used to keep nuclear reactors cool.
Occurrence and Discovery
Helium can be found all over the universe, although it isn’t widely distributed on Earth. Its most frequent form is gas. It shares many characteristics with other noble gases. Helium doesn’t form compounds easily with other elements. It is also very stable. But as the facts earlier show, the element is very usable. Its symbol in the periodic table is He. Its stability and non-reactive nature makes it the perfect tool for handling unstable materials. The element was discovered in 1868 during a solar eclipse. It took scientists 30 years to extract and isolate the gas from the clevite mineral.
The gas is not prevalent on Earth. It is usually extracted from natural gas. The typical amount found ranges from 2 to 7%. It didn’t take long for governments to realize its usefulness in military operations. Access to it was restricted during the two World Wars. In its purest form, the element doesn’t pose any health risks.
However, inhaling excessive amounts has its risks. The danger is the gas functions as an asphyxiate. Inhaling helium from pressure tanks can damage the lungs. The variants found in weather balloons may have other elements that are unhealthy to breathe.
Properties
Its atomic number indicates there are two electrons and two protons in a neutral helium atom. Its most vital properties are density, melting and boiling points, state of matter and atomic mass. The density is 101.325 kilopascals (kPa) and 0.1786 grams per liter at 32°F (0.0°C). Its atomic mass is 4.0026 grams per mole.
Solid and liquid helium can only manifest in high and low temperature settings. Either condition cannot manifest under normal pressures. -458 F (0.95 Kelvin) is the melting point. The boiling point is -452°F (4.22 Kelvin).
One of the more interesting uses of helium is in cryogenics. This field is concerned with low temperature phenomena and its production. Most of the helium produced today is used for cryogenics.
Use Of Helium Gas In Icp Ms
Helium is a chemical element symbolized by (He) in the periodic table of elements at the top right corner with atomic no. 2. It is derived from the Greek word “Helios,” which means the Sun. Nuclear fusion in stars like the sun produces large volumes of helium from hydrogen. It also holds the second rank in being the lightest and the most abundant element in the observable universe (around 24% of the total elemental mass of the universe). Due to very high nuclear binding energy per nucleon, and therefore, being inert (non- reactive) in nature, it is present in such large volumes around the universe.
In general, it is present in the gaseous form, but it can be liquefied under very high pressure (around 25 atm) and very low temperature (around -269°C).
Helium near absolute zero
Properties of Helium
Helium is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, inert, and non-toxic noble gas.
Physical Properties
At normal atmospheric pressure, solid helium does not exist, hence, it does not account for any melting point, but it has been found that once we raise the pressure to 25 atm, it starts melting around -272.2 °C.
Because of being monatomic in nature and having weak interatomic interactions, Helium’s boiling point is also known to be very low (-269 °C), and that’s why it exists in the gaseous state mostly. At the atmospheric pressure of 1 atm and 0°C, it’s density is found to be 0.000164 g cm−3. The only known gas to have a density less than this is Hydrogen.
Chemical Properties
Chemical properties of any element are observed when it interacts with its surroundings and takes part in various chemical reactions. Being inert in nature, Helium doesn’t take part in many chemical reactions.
The electronic configuration of Helium is 1s2. It is widely known as the least soluble gas in water and has a refractive index closer to one. The helium that is found outside the atmosphere of the earth exists in the plasma state and due to the presence of free electrons in the plasma state, it results in very high electric conductivity.
Highly conductive helium in a discharge tube
Isotopes
Helium is known to have nine isotopes, out of which only 3-Helium and 4-Helium are stable, all other isotopes are highly radioactive, and therefore, they do not stay for long. The abundance in the earth’s atmosphere of 3-helium and 4-helium is 0.0002% and 99.9998%, respectively.
Occurrence and Production
Most of the helium present in the universe is generated from nucleosynthesis (the process of creating new atomic-nuclei from the pre-existing ones) that happened during the Big Bang.
But the helium present in the earth’s atmosphere comes from the alpha decay of radioactive nuclei.
For industry-centric purposes, helium is extracted by a process of fractional distillation in which the natural gas is distilled under high pressure and low temperature. Due to its low boiling point, other gases from natural gas gets liquified prior, and helium can be isolated.
Helium storage in a natural gas processing plant
Uses of Helium
Being non-reactive in nature, helium can be used in a variety of applications. For the most common example, we all have seen helium balloons being used as an energy-efficient mode of flight during the early 19th century, but that is a very minor application of helium. Nowadays, helium is one of the major ingredients of most of the technological, medical, and industrial advancements. Some of them are discussed below.
1. Industrial Application
Because of its inert nature, helium acts as a shield when it comes to reducing the reactivity of the system with its surrounding. In the arc welding process, helium acts as a barrier between nitrogen and metal, so that it does not pollute the welding.
It can also be used for leak detection in various industries as helium has a very high diffusion rate and does not react much with the atmosphere.
An engineer checking for leaks in a depressurized pipe
2. Medical Application
Due to its cryogenic properties, helium is widely used in heavy machinery like MRI machines, CT-SCANS, and NMR spectroscopy to protect machines from overheating. Many of these machines are used in the detection of major tumors and cancers.
Some people also use helium balloons for recreational purposes, though it does not have any narcotic properties. People inhale helium from party balloons to make there voice high-pitched as helium is less dense than air and allows sound to travel faster. But it can be a harmful practice as the uncontrolled amount of helium can be fatal.
Helium Gas Used In Medical
Helium is also known to be a necessary ingredient when it comes to deep-sea diving. Due to a lower gas density of helium, it helps to flush out nitrogen and even oxygen, which can have drastic effects below 60-70 ft of water.
3. Technological Application
Helium has a very low boiling point, so it is used as a coolant in many technological wonders. Liquid helium is used in the LHC particle accelerator at CERN to cool down the superconducting magnetic coils.
Liquid helium providing near absolute zero temp. at LHC to keep Magnetic coils cool
Use Of Helium Gas In Hindi
Also, it is used between the lenses of a telescope to reduce the heating effect caused by light. It is widely used as a gas carrier in gas chromatography. Helium also helps in space missions by keeping the rocket fuel cool during the launch. It is also used as a coolant in nuclear reactors.
Critical Element
Helium Gas Formula
Helium is so lightly dense that if once it is released into the atmosphere it will rise in the upward direction and try to escape the atmosphere, due to which it is hard for scientists to recover it. Prices of helium have already been skyrocketed due to increased demand and low supply. Humankind can look for alternatives and make technological advancements so that helium can be replaced by hydrogen.