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by kobeya 3255 days ago
> so party balloons are consuming an irreplaceable resource thanks to an effective subsidy from Congress who narrowmindedly decided to offload the Strategic Helium Reserve at submarket rates

I prefer to think of this as "providing incentives necessary to exploit the resources of Jupiter and Saturn."

Maybe when the history of space settlement is written it will have a chapter on the contribution party balloons and political squandering of strategic reserve had on resource prices...
1 comments
graphitezepp 3255 days ago
That is one way to look on the bright side. Fairly certain I read a write up on HN about why the helium situation isn't actually a big problems balloons aside with the crux of the argument being most of Helium's practical applications it can be effectively recycled in. Wish I remembered it better, chemistry is not my strong suit.
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kobeya 3255 days ago
The main industrial use of helium is in selling cold -- things that need to be done cold are done at liquid nitrogen temperatures. Things that need to be _really_ cold are done at liquid helium temperatures. Think superconducting magnets and MRI scanners. This usage can, should, and usually is recycled. Being a noble gas it doesn't really have much chemical applications per se. However according to wikipedia it is also used in "pressurizing and purging systems, welding, maintenance of controlled atmospheres, and leak detection." These usages are lossy by their very nature.

However helium leaks like almost nothing else. Only hydrogen is worse. It is so small that it is able to leak (slowly) through the crystal lattice structure of metals, ceramics, and other materials used to contain it. So recycling systems can't be made perfect.

And of course, even if recycling systems were perfect, a limited supply means no room for growth.

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CamperBob2 3254 days ago
Actually I'm not sure hydrogen is worse, because it's normally found in diatomic form. What's bigger, a single helium atom or a pair of conjoined hydrogen atoms with their own nuclei?

Hydrogen will leak through porous metals like palladium, but as you say, helium will leak through almost everything.

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