Helium

David Tucker

History

• Helium was discovered by Sir William Ramsay in London, and by N. A. Langley and P. T. Cleve in Sweden. Both occurred in 1895.

• Helium was named after Helios, the greek word for “Sun.”

Properties

• At STP, Helium is a colorless, gaseous element.

• Helium melts at -272.2°C and boils at -268.9°C and has a density of 0.17 g/L.

• Because it is less dense than air, it is often used in blimps and other balloons that need a floating gas.

Isotopes

• 3He and 4He are the only stable isotopes.• The longest living radioactive isotope is

6He but it’s half-life is less than a second.• There are no apparent uses for the

radioactive isotope.

Availability

• Helium is found as a trace element in the air, but mostly trapped in rocks and minerals in the earth.

• Helium is obtained as a byproduct of refining natural gas.

• In 2007, the price for crude helium was $2.12 per cubic meter.

Uses

• Helium can be used for cryogenics, pressurizing, welding, leak finding, scuba diving or other air mixtures, and my most well known: filling balloons.

Major compounds

• There are no known compounds containing helium, as it is a noble gas and very inert.

Fun facts• Helium was once thought to be a metal.• Helium never freezes.• No helium exists naturally within the

human body.• When inhaled, a person’s voice can be

made really squeaky.• Helium is one of the most important

elements that NASA uses.• Since helium is a colorless gas, there are

no pictures of it I could provide.

Sources

• http://www.webelements.com/helium/history.html • http://www.webelements.com/helium/ • http://www.matpack.de/Info/Nuclear/Elements/properties.html

• http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/940416 • http://www.helium.com/items/1667926-element-facts-where-helium-is-found • http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/helium/mcs-2008-heliu.pdf

• http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele002.html • http://hubpages.com/hub/Fun-Facts-About-Helium