If you think helium is only good for fun things like balloons and making your voice sound funny, think again – we need it to run important things, too, like MRI machines and the Large Hadron Collider.
So, when researchers found a “perfect” giant reserve of helium hundreds of meters below a drill site in Minnesota, they were thrilled.
It was discovered late in February by drilling company Pulsar Helium while working on an exploratory helium well. They found concentrations of 12.4 percent helium between 1,750 and 2,200 feet underground.
Thomas Abraham-James, the president of the company, discussed the find with CBS News.
There was a lot of screaming, a lot of hugging and high fives. It’s nice to know the efforts all worked out and we pulled it off. 12.4 percent is just a dream. It’s perfect.”
Helium is most commonly found in natural gas deposits in the ground, and is formed as a result of the radioactive decay of heavy elements in the earth.
It is “lighter than air” when in its gaseous form and as we stated up top, is used in a bunch of medical, scientific, and engineering products. It’s also necessary to manufacture semiconductors, high-energy particle colliders, and nuclear reactors.
It’s prized for its low boiling point, because there are a lot of superheated materials that need to be cooled – like the superconducting magnets in MRI machines.
In fact, almost a third of all global helium is used in MRI machines.
Most helium is sourced in the United States and Qatar, but recently we’ve been experiencing supply shortages, which can obviously become a large issue for hospitals in a short amount of time.
Even with this new discovery and the possibility that more are lurking, the world will likely run out of helium within the next 200 years.
Bad news for kids birthday parties.
And MRI machines I guess.
If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.