Helium Tank

When filling balloons with helium people often look at the helium tank and wonder where it came from and who invented it. Helios the Greek god of the sun carried helium across the sky during the day while his sister Selene transported the moon at night. That is the Greek version. In eighteen sixty eight Pierre Janssen saw spectral lines that just did not add up to any known chemical element. It was not until the late eighteen hundreds did helium come down to earth.

The sun supplied the helium from the ongoing nuclear fusion its core with the big bang, it did not come down to earth that way. Unstable isotopes eject alpha particles as they waste away. Those particles capture the two electrons and become helium atoms, thus producing helium gas. This gas stays trapped in the earths interior, such as in volcanoes and faults as well as the gas and oil wells. These results in the earth are of decaying of thorium, uranium and other alpha emitters.

In today’s society so many things are disposable, even a helium tank. A standard size is a twelve pound tank holing fifteen cubic feet of helium. It can blow up twenty seven eighteen inch round balloons, fifty nine inch balloons or twenty seven eleven inch balloons. These tanks are not refillable but are recyclable. The disposable helium tank can either be rented or bought outright. To fill a balloon just put the balloon over the nozzle and turn the handle to open the valve, sending the helium into the balloon.

Heliarc welding uses a helium tank to weld many different metals together. The helium surrounds the torch and it is continually.   It is released through the hose that is attached to the tank. Sometimes there are conditions that a helium tank needs to be hooked up for a continual flow of the gas. When one helium tank is emptied, another cylinder will take over, providing more helium.

In a helium tank used by scuba divers, oxygen is mixed with the helium. It is done so because helium is less water soluble than many other gases. It does not enter the blood stream of the diver even under a heavy amount of pressures under water.

A helium tank is under extreme pressure, if breathed too much it might rupture the lungs. If you insist on inhaling helium, do it from the balloon because helium in a balloon is the same as the air in the atmosphere. Be extra careful especially when children are around a helium tank. They can get the idea that it would be fun to inhale the helium from the tank. Not a good idea for anybody to do so.

Buying or renting a helium tank, whether it is disposal or not, is a snap. Many stores have them and the prices will vary depending on how big you need it and what it will be used for. The price of helium keeps going up so the prices of a helium tank can be more than expected.