2006-09-15 07:35:05 · 5 answers · asked by Roger R 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Interestingly enough, even though helium is the second most common element in the universe, there just isn't a lot of it here on Earth where we happen to be. As I'm sure is pretty obvious, any free helium just floats out into space, so the only source of helium we have a pockets of gas trapped in the ground, and usually produced by radiation.
So far, it seems like there's plenty of helium around for the limited uses to which we put it. But, like natural gas and other stuff we dig out of the ground, it is certainly a finite resource as far as ease of access goes. Which is would I would say instead of 'shortage' - we aren't short right now, but the potential certainly exists.
Interestingly enough, the U.S. government DID announce that they have a shortage of local helium... but even they said that this shortage would probably be alleviated within a year.
2006-09-15 08:11:53 · answer #1 · answered by Doctor Why 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Potentially. Most of the US helium supply has come from some natural gas wells in Texas. But the price of helium has been low enough that separating the helium has become uneconomic. So, a lot of helium is coming from outside the US.
2006-09-15 15:01:27 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Helium is created in a process called alpha radiation (in fact an alpha particle is a helium nucleus). This is a fairly common form of radiation, so I can't imagine there being a shortage of helium.
(That response about helium in Texas, above, is a joke)
2006-09-15 16:07:39 · answer #3 · answered by kris 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no there are plenty of heluim in the unverse. maybe one might argue that universe itself is made of largely with heluim and hydrogen.
2006-09-15 14:38:28 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
No shortage. It is one of the "rare gases", but it's not that rare.
2006-09-15 14:40:34 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋