Helium The Disappearing Element
The subject of the book is helium, the element, and its use in myriad applications including MRI machines, particle accelerators, space telescopes, and of course balloons and blimps. It was at the birth of our Universe, or the Big Bang, where the majority
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Wheeler M. “Bo” Sears, Jr.
Helium The Disappearing Element
SpringerBriefs in Earth Sciences
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8897
Wheeler M. “Bo” Sears, Jr.
Helium The Disappearing Element
13
Wheeler M. “Bo” Sears, Jr. Weil Group Resources LLC Weil Helium LLC Dallas, TX USA
ISSN 2191-5369 ISSN 2191-5377 (electronic) SpringerBriefs in Earth Sciences ISBN 978-3-319-15122-9 ISBN 978-3-319-15123-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-15123-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015931923 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © The Author(s) 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
For my boys Walker, Harrison, and Henry
Preface
When I told my friends and colleagues that I was writing a book about Helium I was met primarily with wrinkled eyebrows and comments like, “Why would you write a book about Helium?” I pondered the question for quite some time before deciding to sit down and start typing. I mean, why is helium interesting? I would speculate that a vast majority of the population only thinks that helium is used in toy balloons and blimps. Thus, to them, it would be quite boring I assume. That’s when it hit me. There needs to be some education about the element that is f undamentally critical to an abundance of high-technology applications in order to help prevent its wastage. You see, helium is the second most abundant element in the Universe but it is actually quite rare here on Earth. I will explain this s upply polarity in the subsequent chapters but the point is we currently have a global shortage of the stuff and without it, many facets of industry and scientific research would screech to a halt. There are arguments that toy balloons, which normally sell for a dollar or so should actually sell for higher than US$50 each to essentially prevent its wastage i
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