10 Fun Facts About Helium: A blog around interesting facts around helium
Everyone has surely seen a helium balloon at least once in their lives. It’s a staple at birthday parties and one of the most commonly used party toys. Helium balloons are not only fun though – they can be filled with a number of helpful uses, such as providing therapy to people who have breathing disorders. If you don’t know much about helium, check out these 10 interesting facts about this noble gas.
- It is the second most abundant element in the universe, after hydrogen.
- It is a component of the sun’s atmosphere and also occurs in some meteorites.
- It was first isolated after being found in natural gas from the earth, over a century ago.
- There is more helium in the universe than anything else except hydrogen.
- Helium is inert and colorless but is not actually tasteless, given that it has been reported to taste like nothing at all.
- Its name comes from Helios, which was the Greek word for sun.
- Like argon, it doesn’t react with any other elements or compounds.
- It can be inhaled without harm.
- You might have even used helium as a child to turn your voice squeaky – helium changes the way sound waves travel because it’s so light, giving your voice an unusual pitch when you speak while holding your nose!
- At one time it was considered a useless by-product produced when radioactive elements decayed and had no known uses.
- Takeaway: Helium is a fun gas! And can be used for lots of fun applications
In addition to this here are some other important facts that you might want to know about Helium gas.
1. The only element that can be played like a musical instrument is helium. It’s also the only element that can be inhaled and exhaled by humans—and it’s also the only element that can be found in balloons!
2. Helium floats upward, so if you were to put a balloon filled with helium in a room, it would rise toward the ceiling rather than fall down toward you. This makes it useful for lifting things off the ground and into space—like people! If you’ve ever been on a blimp or an airship, you’ve probably been lifted by helium.
3. Helium was discovered by French physicist Pierre Janssen on August 18, 1868 while he was examining spectral lines from a solar eclipse (it’s named after him). He noticed that one of his samples had a different spectrum than another sample; they both had hydrogen, but one did not have oxygen present! He realized this must mean there was something else present as well.
It’s hard not to like helium without sounding cliche, in fact I think David Bowie even sang a song about his love for helium. It is indeed the second lightest element on earth and very convenient to store due to the fact that it is colourless and odourless in both its liquid and gaseous state. Helium is quite an interesting gas and worth taking into consideration when purchasing balloons for your next party. You can buy helium gas in the UK especially in London and Kent city by visiting the Helibox.co.uk website and ordering online.
