Topic: rethinking party balloons- we're running out of helium?

[Shibboleth]

good to know. i'll start filling my underground cavern with used birthday balloons. i'm going to be rich, biatch.

Helium gradually leaks through the balloon.

Thus the need for a cavern. I intend to fill it completely.

Are you crazy! If you fill an entire cavern up with helium it is likely to make the whole planet float away.

[IloveLamp]

good to know. i'll start filling my underground cavern with used birthday balloons. i'm going to be rich, biatch.

Helium gradually leaks through the balloon.

Thus the need for a cavern. I intend to fill it completely.

Are you crazy! If you fill an entire cavern up with helium it is likely to make the whole planet float away.

I'll tie the other end of the cavern to my girlfriend's cat. He's pretty fat, so we should be safe.

[Shibboleth]

How many times do we have to put the Earth's fate in the hands of a cat before we learn our lesson?

[I am Nintendo]

So how does that balance out if I trap my breath (CO₂) in a balloon? Surely that helps something.

[Nacreous]

So how does that balance out if I trap my breath (CO₂) in a balloon? Surely that helps something.

Only if you bury the balloons under miles of rock.

[I am Nintendo]

That's too much work. Wasting all that energy will just cause the universe to die faster.

[kem]

Nitrous oxide balloons are more fun.

[Shibboleth]

So how does that balance out if I trap my breath (CO₂) in a balloon? Surely that helps something.

Trapping your (CO₂)  in balloons is a good way to kill the forests. Plants need your (CO₂). Only you can prevent forest deaths.

[Humppa]

I LOVE this thread.

[Jeremy's Sea]

I was discussing this today and tried googling and I can't really find anything other news outlets repeating quotes from Dr. Richardson. Is this really a looming issue or did one person get it wrong and the media ran with it. Also, most google articles are from 2010, like this thread, not many updates on it. Geologists, chemists and physicists of the SGU forum, what say you? 

[Jaunty]

Fusion reactors fuse hydrogen into helium, no?

Yep - the reactor designs often require liquid helium as a coolant for superconducting magnets though (eg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokomak), so you'd likely need a little helium to get you started.

[T.A.P.O.R.]

I was discussing this today and tried googling and I can't really find anything other news outlets repeating quotes from Dr. Richardson. Is this really a looming issue or did one person get it wrong and the media ran with it. Also, most google articles are from 2010, like this thread, not many updates on it. Geologists, chemists and physicists of the SGU forum, what say you? 

The panel discussed it at some point, IIRC there are two producers of helium on earth, Germany and USA.
Extracted from an oxide or some such thing.

[MikeHz]

Party balloons don't use pure helium. The gas is so light it would distort the shape of the balloon. Instead, the balloons are inflated with "balloon gas," a mixture of that gas and air.