In 1903, an oil well in Kansas struck a gas geyser
that was almost two percent helium,
resulting in helium production
for helium-filled airships for World War I.
Cooled liquid helium is a superfluid;
with zero viscosity and zero friction,
it creeps up surfaces to escape containers.
Noble
Helium is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, and monatomic.
It’s the first of the noble gases, and it hardly inspires comparisons.
Why is helium rare on earth? It it light and it doesn’t combine with other elements,
so it has floated off into space.
What we have is produced by radioactive decay of uranium and thorium inside the earth.
No minerals contain helium in their chemical formulae.
Norman Lockyer was the founder, in 1869, of the science journal Nature.
Why is helium rare on earth? It it light and it doesn’t combine with other elements, so it has floated off into space. What we have is produced by radioactive decay of uranium and thorium inside the earth. No minerals contain helium in their chemical formulae.
Norman Lockyer was the founder, in 1869, of the science journal Nature.
See also in The book of science:
Readings on wikipedia:
Other readings: