“A dream. It’s perfect”: Helium discovery in northern Minnesota may be biggest ever in North America::For a century, the U.S. Government-owned the largest helium reserve in the country, but the biggest exporters now are in Russia, Qatar and Tanzania. With this new discovery, Minnesota could be joining that list.
Hopefully we stop wasting this limited resource on fucking balloons.
Edit: well this kicked off a fun and respectful conversation. The information I can find from actual scientists says wasting helium on balloons is bad. The balloon lobby says it is just a waste byproduct. The balloon lobby brings nothing of value to the world in terms of plastic or helium use, so I’m going to go with the science opinion on this one.
Hopefully we stop wasting this limited resource on fucking balloons.
I don’t recommend fucking balloons. The squeaks are annoying and the pops hurt.
You need more lube.
I think for balloons we should switch back to hydrogen. What could possibly go wrong?
It would make birthday parties more fun
helium just boils off in MRI/NMR machines, this is the major use of helium i think. if you could recycle that in machines that already are out there, that would solve lots of problems. there are newer systems that do not require cryogens or just require liquid nitrogen which is much cheaper and less energy intensive. these things use closed loop refrigeration, but in turn you need to supply them with power
Sounds like superconductor research could end up fixing that problem. Once we have a suitable conductor material, you no longer need to keep it that cool.
not exactly, because if someone finds out that high temperature superconductor works even better at 4K, then it will be running at 4K, making entire thing more compact or allowing for higher fields
And giant blimps.
The helium used for balloons is not the same type of helium used in medical and scientific equipment.
Wdym? The only difference is the helium gas used in more serious applications is more pure. Its helium all the same.
Look up Helium-3 vs Helium-4, it most certainly is not “all the same”.
Helium-3 is not used in general applications, its uses are far more niche, it is much more rare than helium 4. For most applications, when we talk about helium being used we mean plain old helium-4. MRI machines and balloons both use helium-4.
Thomas Abraham-James, CEO of Pulsar Helium
Oh my god, fuck this. Have we learned nothing? Nationalize that supply right now.
This is actually incredibly good news
Not really, because we’re still pissing away invaluable helium because of capitalism…
If we keep doing that, it doesn’t really matter how much we find.
We need to stop wasting it first, then finding huge supplies is a good thing. As long as we’re not dumb enough to start wasting it again.
Ah yes, we’re wasting helium, so finding more isn’t a good thing. Of course. 🙄
Yeah it’ll hopefully see us through to when we’re collecting it in space - there’s plenty up there and they’ve already come up with some good ways of collecting it
Imagine we found out climate change predictions were a decade early, so we kept pace and didn’t use the extra time to try and fix it…
It’s not bad news that we got another decade, but it doesn’t matter that much in the long run if we still don’t fix the underlying issue
I don’t disagree with your general point. But finding a new source of Helium, regardless of the rate of use, is a good thing.
That aside – are you saying Helium is related to climate change? Curious to know how, if so.
Edit : minor addition. I was reading a comment the other day and found out helium can also result from other reactions outside of a star, such as the decay of a radioactive element, which ejects an alpha particle (which is just a helium molecule with special attributes, aka no electrons). The alpha particle crashes into something, picks up electrons and suddenly its a helium.
No, they are clearly making the following comparison.
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For climate change : World is heating up, heading toward the result of mass extinctions. The most valuable resource is the time to act. Ten extra years to work on the root cause. Unsustainable emissions.
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For Helium : A finite resource is being exhausted, heading toward a world with no helium (helium is typically created by one of the fusion cycles in the core of a star, fusion is a nascient technology on earth). The most valuable resource is time to act, +X% helium extra supply to address the root cause, unsustainable consumption.
In both cases, the root cause is being (mostly) ignored.
So they’re pointing out that if you have 800 finite helium, then suddenly you find out you have 880 helium… that hasn’t changed the finite nature of the helium. The root cause remains a “spending problem”. And they are likely annoyed that 880 ~> 880 results in, " Omg yay!" vs what should be, “Oh thank goodness, more time to address the root cause of consumption.”
Idk, was that not obvious? I’m not being facetious here, I’m really asking. Brings to mind the “curse of knowledge” fallacy where when you understand something you assume others do, and they often don’t, resulting in disjointed communication where the listener can’t grasp the idea. As condescending as this sounds I assure you its only because I’m not a writer, I’m legitimately making an attempt to communicate neutrally with you as we both seem to have genuine interest.
Anyway, corrections and such always welcome. All numbers in this post made up for illustrative purposes only.
I sincerely appreciate your effort to relate your perspective. I think I did originally interpret the comment how you described, but I over thought it and wondered if there was a connection I was unaware of.
Ah! Makes sense to me.
There is always a chance I misinterpreted as well, I def have whooshed on many jokes on Lemmy. Can’t win them all lol.
That argument makes sense, it’s hard to view finding new helium deposits as good news if we keep wasting helium. As far as I can tell though, helium is already becoming much more expensive which may lead to less waste. It will become more scarce and expensive before the technology gets better at capturing it and storing it. https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/25/1088930/global-helium-market-semiconductors/
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How are we wasting it? Keep in mind that the helium used for stuff like balloons is not the same as the helium used in medical equipment. Also keep in mind that even if it were, the amount of helium used in balloons would be less than 1% of total usage.
So I ask again, how are we wasting it?
Tldr:
It takes an insanely large timescale for it to be produced on Earth, and it rarely accumulates because it’s fucking helium. It’s so light that it will literally just float out into outer space as soon as it’s vented to the atmosphere.
Using any for nonessential purposes is a waste.
And can you give an example of nonessential purposes we’re wasting it on?
Per the article, helium escapes Earth naturally; we’re harnessing the only element on Earth that doesn’t stick around anyway.
How do you find helium? Did everyone suddenly start talking like chipmonks?
[off topic]
“The Guns Above” by Robyn Bennis. What if Napoleonic armies had an unlimited supply of helium? The author does a great job of describing 1800’s airships and their tactics.
Fun book.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
MINNEAPOLIS — Scientists and researchers are celebrating what they call a “dream” discovery after an exploratory drill confirmed a high concentration of helium buried deep in Minnesota’s Iron Range.
Prior to arriving in Minnesota, Abraham-James was working in Tanzania, where another helium discovery was made, but at half the concentration as found in the Iron Range.
The inert gas is likely known by most consumers for filling balloons and blimps, but it’s actually one of the most sought-after commodities in the world because of its versatility; as a liquid, helium is among the most effective and safest coolants around.
Dr. Grant Larson, a radiologist at Hennepin Healthcare, said the health system’s four MRI machines rely on helium to operate.
“We’re aware that it could potentially render us vulnerable to not being able to provide access to our patients,” Dr. Larson told CBS News Minnesota.
“It’s not just about drilling one hole, but now proving up the geological models, being able to get some really good data that wasn’t captured in the original discovery,” he explained.
The original article contains 438 words, the summary contains 174 words. Saved 60%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
