Lifting Gas - Gases That Are Probably Suitable For Lifting - Helium

Helium

Helium is the second lightest gas. For that reason, it is an attractive gas for lifting as well. A major advantage is that this gas is noncombustible. But the use of helium has some disadvantages, too:

• The same diffusion problem as above described with hydrogen;
• Helium is very expensive.
• Although abundant in the universe, helium is very scarce on earth. The only commercially viable reserves are a few natural gas wells, mostly in the US, that trapped it from the slow alpha decay of radioactive materials within the earth. By human standards helium is a non-renewable resource that cannot be practically manufactured from other materials. When released into the atmosphere, e.g., when a helium-filled balloon leaks or bursts, it eventually escapes into space and is permanently lost.