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He - Helium
Where has all the Helium gone?

April Mixon
Chemistry 141 Instructor
Clark Community College
Vancouver, Washington

by
John Morris
Chemistry 141 Student
November 27, 2013

John Morris
November 29, 2013

April Mixon
Clark College
Dear A:
Attached please find Formal Paper as part of the requirements for Chemistry 141 &, Fall 2013.
As outlined in the Element of your choosing, the report discusses background information on an
element. This includes the origin and discovery of the element. Historical uses and modern day
uses leading up to a current and projected shortage addressing the reason for the shortage and its
impact, if any on the modern day world
It was a great experience to be able to identify the source and alternative uses of an element that
is not a commonly discussed or thought about in daily dealings. Thank you for your time in
reading this report, I hope that it meets and exceeds your requirements. If you have any
questions, comments or concerns regarding this report, please know that I am available to you to
discuss it.
The majority of the information came from scholarly journals, periodicals, academic web sites,
and books. The content is limited in part due to the requested length of the paper and limited
scope set by the instructor.

Sincerely,

John Morris

Table of Contents

Cover pagei
Letter of Transmittalii
Table of Contentsiii
Introduction.1
Element description .......1
Modern Day Helium ....1
The Importance of Helium Today ..2
Conclusion .....2
The Importance of Helium Today ...2
References...3

Introduction: Helium is a very abundant element. In fact, it is the second most abundant
element in the Universe.1 The only element more abundant is the element Hydrogen. Generally,
when something is as abundant as Helium, conservation and value are not of importance and has
limited impact on the day to day lives of humans on earth. In the Case of Helium, on Earth is
the game changing factor. The properties of Helium include being colorless, odorless, and
tasteless. Helium has a very low boiling point. Helium is very small and extremely light. It is the
least reactive of all elements as a Noble gas and does not react with other elements or ions.2 This
property (non-reactivity) means that there are no minerals or compounds containing Helium that
occur naturally on Earth. Although helium is the second most abundant element in the universe,
it is lighter than air and most of it in the Earths atmosphere bleeds off into space.

Element description: As previously mentioned, Helium (He) is a noble gas. It is colorless,

odorless and tasteless. Helium is inert and very small in regards to atomic Radii as identified by
its placement in the top most far right element on the Periodic Table. The Electron configuration
for Helium 1S2 and the atomic weight for Helium is 4.003. Additionally, following the trends on
the periodic table Helium has a very low Ionization energy of 2372.3 kJ/mol.
The Element Helium identified on the periodic table as He. The atomic number of Helium is 2.
Helium was first discovered in 1868, by the French astronomer P. J. C. Jensen, who was studying
the chromosphere of the Sun during a solar eclipse. During his observation, new yellow light was
observed, which Jenssen concluded as an element not previously known. In 1895, the existence
of helium on Earth was proved by Sir William Ramsay. Ramsays studies of a radioactive element
showed that a by-product of the natural breakdown of some radioactive elements was an inert
gas which was found to be helium. An astronomer Joseph Lockyer and a chemist Edward
Frankland found helium to be an element and named it after Helios, the Greek word for the Sun.

Modern Day Helium: Helium used for industrial purposes, is a byproduct of natural gas
production. In the natural gas fields near Amarillo, TX the U.S. government maintains the
countrys largest helium storehouse. The United States government began storing Helium in
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1925 when it was discovered in such high concentration in comparison to the only 0 .0004% of
Earth's atmosphere containing helium. Today, the U.S. alone produces a majority of the worlds
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helium at 75 percent. Nearly half of that total, or roughly 35 percent of the worlds helium
supply, comes from the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve. This Reserve is managed under the
Department of the Interior as part of the Federal Helium Program which is run by the Bureau of
Land Management. Despite the actions taken above, in May of 2013, the director of Helium
sourcing for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Walter Nelson, notify congress that the worlds
supply of Helium could be depleted by 2018.

The importance of Helium today.

Helium today is an integral part of healthcare and scientific research. Helium is critically
essential in producing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The Magnet in an MRI machine
uses superconducting wire that is cooled to 4.2 Kelvin. Currently, only Helium can keep the
magnets that cold and still provide for stability in the magnetic fields that allow MRI systems to
function. Additionally, Helium is used in for finding leaks due to its small size in scientific
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applications such as vacuum and pressurizing liquid fuels in rockets. Further, Helium is used as a
cooling medium for nuclear reactors as well as a breathing mixture for deep sea divers to help
avoid nitrogen poisoning or the Bends. Finally, the future technology of cryogenics and the
current production of semiconductors are heavily reliant upon Helium
Conclusion: The many uses listed above are in no way all inclusive, the list does give a sense of
the impact Helium has on the lives of human society. Most people are only familiar with Helium
being used to fill balloons and the funny sound voices make after inhaling helium. The reality
can be that Helium is essential to the future of scientific research. Essential to advances in
medicine and healthcare, and essential to continued exploration in the ocean and in space.
Recommendation: One theory regarding the current shortage and the future abundance of
Helium reserves on Earth is that in 1996 when the United States Government decided to
privatize the collection and processing of Helium that the demand for Helium was minimal and

not understood as having too large an impact. Therefore, the value of Helium to capitalist
markets was undervalued. Now, the reserves are being depleted in accordance with the
government decision to no longer accumulate Helium, while no large scale Helium production
and stockpiling has occurred in the private sector. Either the Government needs to resume its
former position of stockpiling or the private sector needs to scoop up the opportunity.
References
1.

Enghag, P. (2004). Encyclopedia of the elements.

2.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. Amarillo Field Office, Helium
Operations, Statistical Reports December 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, respectively. Available at
http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/energy/helium/helium_operators_information/statistical_reports0.html
. Last accessed on June 30, 2009.

3.

Bhunia, U., 2003. Cryogenics for LHC Dipole. Available at http://www.cern.ch/sm18public/presentation/Cryogenic%20technology%20for%20LHC.doc.

4.

http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/He.html