Helium

Helium gas (98.2 percent pure) is isolated from natural gas by liquefying the other components at low temperatures and under high pressures. Adsorption of other gases on cooled, activated charcoal yields 99.995 percent pure helium. Some helium is supplied from liquefaction of air on a large scale; the amount of helium obtainable from 1,000 tons (900 metric tons) of air is about 112 cubic feet (3.17 cubic metres), as measured at room temperature and at normal atmospheric pressure.Helium is used as an inert-gas atmosphere for welding metals such as aluminum; in rocketpropulsion (to pressurize fuel tanks, especially those for liquid hydrogen, because only helium is still a gas at liquid-hydrogen temperature); in meteorology (as a lifting gas for instrument-carrying balloons); in cryogenics (as a coolant because liquid helium is the coldest substance); and in high-pressure breathing operations (mixed with oxygen, as in scuba diving and caisson work, especially because of its low solubility in the bloodstream). Meteorites and rocks have been analyzed for helium content as a means of dating

Production and uses

Production and uses

Production and uses

A liquid mixture of the two isotopes helium-3 and helium-4 separates at temperatures below about 0.8 K (−272.4 °C, or −458.2 °F) into two layers. One layer is practically pure helium-3; the other is mostly helium-4 but retains about 6 percent helium-3 even at the lowest temperatures achieved. The dissolution of helium-3 in helium-4 is accompanied by a cooling effect that has been used in the construction of cryostats (devices for production of very low temperatures) that can attain—and maintain for days—temperatures as low as 0.01 K (−273.14 °C, or −459.65 °F).

A liquid mixture of the two isotopes helium-3 and helium-4 separates at temperatures below about 0.8 K (−272.4 °C, or −458.2 °F) into two layers. One layer is practically pure helium-3; the other is mostly helium-4 but retains about 6 percent helium-3 even at the lowest temperatures achieved.

A liquid mixture of the two isotopes helium-3 and helium-4 separates at temperatures below about 0.8 K (−272.4 °C, or −458.2 °F) into two layers.

Helium-4 is unique in having two liquid forms. The normal liquid form is called helium I and exists at temperatures from its boiling point of 4.21 K (−268.9 °C) down to about 2.18 K (−271 °C). Below 2.18 K, thermal conductivity of helium-4 becomes more than 1,000 times greater than that of copper.This liquid form is called helium II to distinguish it from normal liquid helium I. Helium II exhibits the property called superfluidity: its viscosity, or resistance to flow, is so low that it has not been measured. This liquid spreads in a thin film over the surface of any substance it touches, and this film flows without friction even against the force of gravity. By contrast, the less plentiful helium-3 forms three distinguishable liquid phases of which two are superfluids. Superfluidity in helium-4 was discovered by the Russian physicist Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa in the mid-1930s, and the same phenomenon in helium-3 was first observed by Douglas D. Osheroff, David M. Lee, and Robert C. Richardson of the United States in 1972.

Helium-4 is unique in having two liquid forms. The normal liquid form is called helium I and exists at temperatures from its boiling point of 4.21 K (−268.9 °C) down to about 2.18 K (−271 °C). Below 2.18 K, thermal conductivity of helium-4 becomes more than 1,000 times greater than that of copper.This liquid form is called helium II to distinguish it from normal liquid helium I. Helium II exhibits the property called superfluidity: its viscosity, or resistance to flow, is so low that it has not been measured. This liquid spreads in a thin film over the surface of any substance it touches, and this film flows without friction even against the force of gravity. By contrast, the less plentiful helium-3 forms three distinguishable liquid phases of which two are superfluids.

Helium-4 is unique in having two liquid forms. The normal liquid form is called helium I and exists at temperatures from its boiling point of 4.21 K (−268.9 °C) down to about 2.18 K (−271 °C). Below 2.18 K, thermal conductivity of helium-4 becomes more than 1,000 times greater than that of copper.This liquid form is called helium II to distinguish it from normal liquid helium I. Helium II exhibits the property called superfluidity: its viscosity, or resistance to flow, is so low that it has not been measured. This liquid spreads in a thin film over the surface of any substance it touches, and this film flows without friction even against the force of gravity.

Helium-4 is unique in having two liquid forms. The normal liquid form is called helium I and exists at temperatures from its boiling point of 4.21 K (−268.9 °C) down to about 2.18 K (−271 °C). Below 2.18 K, thermal conductivity of helium-4 becomes more than 1,000 times greater than that of copper.This liquid form is called helium II to distinguish it from normal liquid helium I. Helium II exhibits the property called superfluidity: its viscosity, or resistance to flow, is so low that it has not been measured.

Helium-4 is unique in having two liquid forms. The normal liquid form is called helium I and exists at temperatures from its boiling point of 4.21 K (−268.9 °C) down to about 2.18 K (−271 °C). Below 2.18 K, thermal conductivity of helium-4 becomes more than 1,000 times greater than that of coppercopper.This liquid form is called helium II to distinguish it from normal liquid helium I.

Helium-4 is unique in having two liquid forms. The normal liquid form is called helium I and exists at temperatures from its boiling point of 4.21 K (−268.9 °C) down to about 2.18 K (−271 °C). Below 2.18 K, thermal conductivity of helium-4 becomes more than 1,000 times greater than that of copper.

Properties

Properties

Properties

Helium-4 is unique in having two liquid forms. The normal liquid form is called helium I and exists at temperatures from its boiling point of 4.21 K (−268.9 °C) down to about 2.18 K (−271 °C).