42 Helium Facts: An Amazing Chemical Element

We know about the helium-filled balloons that are a must-have for any party. 

When helium is inhaled, it leads to vocal change, making a normal voice sound like a chipmunk. This element is abundantly available in the universe, and the sun possesses millions of tons of it.

Did you know Qatar supplies approximately one-third of the world's helium? You need to take proper precautions while handling helium. This is because, at low temperatures, helium speedily freezes whatever comes its way.

Direct skin contact may lead to frostbite. But this element is not limited by scary frostbite or a funny voice. Read on to learn more amazing things about helium.

The History Of Helium

Pierre J.C. Jansen was on an expedition to India to observe a solar eclipse, and that's when he noticed another yellow line. He misunderstood it as sodium. The same thing was observed by Joseph Norman Lockyer and he named it helium, believing it to be a metal.

Sir William Ramsay was busy researching argon when he, too, noticed that similar line. But he noticed that line on Earth and not on the Sun.

He found the detached helium by working on cleveite. He observed that the yellow line that was seen on the sun was also found on Earth when nitrogen and oxygen escaped a sulfuric corrosive.

Luigi Palmieri observed the same lines in the range of the gases that erupted from Mt. Vesuvius.

Then in 1895, Per Teodor Cleve and Mils Abraham investigated thoroughly and confirmed that it was helium and confirmed their atomic mass. Most of the helium that is found on Earth is a mixture of radioactive rot, and it was shaped during the Big Bang. Helium is also used in the outer shells of storage tanks and fuel tanks.

The Scientific Principles Of Helium

As per Newtonian mechanics, there is no accuracy of what follows when two particles are tackled, and helium is no different. After neon, if there's any other element that is least reactive or least receptive, it's helium. Owing to helium's low atomic mass, its heat conductivity and sound speed in the gas stage are noteworthy. 

The majority of helium is found in the plasma state, and in there, the element's electrons aren't closely bound to the core, bringing about exceptionally high electrical conductivity. With nuclear number two, its nuclear mass is 4.003, and it's placed in Group 18.

While the universe has an abundance of it, it's rarely found in our atmosphere. It's so rare that the amount of helium isn't even bound by the gravitational pull of Earth. When combined with oxygen, it can help divers breathe inside the ocean.

Characteristics Of Helium

Helium is found in huge sums in minerals of uranium, thorium, and many such elements. It's used as a defensive gas in precious germanium stones, and in gas chromatography, because it's inactive. 

The boiling point of helium is - 452.07 F (-268.928 C), and its atomic weight is 4.00260. Helium is a dreary, scentless, dull, and non-noxious gas.

The thickness and consistency of helium are incredibly low. Most helium is obtained by extracting it from natural gas.

The thermal conductivity and the caloric substance of helium are remarkably high. Helium can be inhaled while breathing, and it can lead to a high voice, instability, and headache.

Helium under standard conditions is non-harmful, as it is the least reactive element. But there are ways how helium can mix with other elements and can cause damage. So even if you want to play with this element, taking necessary precautions is essential.

If not, it's best to stay away from crude helium. Helium is commonly used to fill airships, party balloons, or a helium balloon and for breathing by deep-sea divers.

According to quantum mechanics, the helium atom is the simplest to model. Two electrons in atomic orbitals surround a nucleus containing two protons and two neutrons in a helium atom.

Most of the helium on Earth's atmosphere is a result of radioactive decay and other gasses emitted, and hence it is one of the radioactive elements. Helium is one of the noble gases and is therefore non-toxic to humans.

Helium gas is used in helium balloons. The remaining nitrogen and other gasses are precipitated out of the gaseous mixture as helium gas is purified by consecutive exposures to lower temperatures.

Because the muscles that regulate the voice box continue to move in the same way they do when the voice box is filled with air when a person talks after inhaling helium gas, the fundamental frequency produced by direct vibration of the vocal folds remains unchanged.

Gasoline Phases And More Facts About Helium

Helium can act as a coolant for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and as superconducting magnets for NMR spectrometers as well as in MRI scanners. It's used by lunar exploration space vehicles such as Apollo space vehicles to keep the satellite instruments cool as the molecules of helium have zero friction.

It also cools the oxygen and hydrogen that are used as fuel in those vehicles. Owing to its low thickness, helium is frequently used to fill embellishing inflatables, climate inflatables, and aircraft.

Since it's extremely unreceptive, helium is used to make fiber optics and semiconductors. It's amazing how this common element is used for so many productive purposes.

But as mentioned previously, when playing with any new element, it's important to have a good level of awareness and take necessary precautions. Helium is the least reactive, but you can only see its chemical properties during a chemical reaction.

Large amounts of helium were discovered in natural gas fields in portions of the United States in 1903, and the United States remains the world's top source of gas today.

Cryogenics and cooling superconducting magnets both employ liquid helium, with MRI scanners being the most prevalent commercial application. During the Space Race and the Cold War, the helium market was depressed after WWII, but the reserve was increased in the 1950s to secure a supply of liquid helium as a coolant to manufacture oxygen/hydrogen rocket fuel.

After neon, helium is the least reactive noble gas and consequently the least reactive of all elements in the periodic table.

A few scholars argue that helium should be placed above beryllium, among the alkaline earth metals, rather than in the noble gas column. Its boiling point is 4.22 K. It has the lowest boiling and melting point of all the elements.

The solid has a crystalline structure and a sharp melting point, yet it is very compressible; in a laboratory, applying pressure can reduce its volume by more than 30%.

There are nine known helium isotopes (same element). After inhaling helium, people get a funny voice.

It's also the only element in outer space. The solid has a crystalline structure and a sharp melting point, yet it's very compressible; in a laboratory, applying pressure can reduce its volume by more than 30%.

There are many facts about helium that scientists have been eager to find out ever since discovering helium. Helium on earth can even be found in liquid form. Isotope ratios in rocks from the Earth's crust can vary by a factor of 10, and these ratios can be used to explore rock origins and the composition of Earth's mantle.

Helium on earth is a protective gas. Half of the gas produced comes from arc welding and growing crystals to make silicon wafers.

It is one of the chemical elements. The nuclear fusion of hydrogen in stars produces large amounts of fresh helium.