Abstract
If you look at a periodic table, you will notice helium on the opposite side, but the same row as hydrogen. Helium and hydrogen alone sit at the top of the entire spectrum of elements. Why is that? Although this will be discussed in greater detail in Chap. 2, quite simply, they were the first elements formed during the birth of our Universe but also the two simplest atoms in the periodic table. Hydrogen has a single proton in its nucleus while helium has two. Each sequential element has an additional proton in its nucleus all the way up to the heaviest natural element, uranium. Interestingly, uranium (and thorium) is extremely important in helium generation which will also be discussed in greater detail in Chap. 4. All of the elements in the periodic table have isotopes which are defined by the number of neutrons in the nucleus. The number of neutrons is what defines the type of isotope an element it is while the number of protons identifies the type of atom it is. Helium-4, which is the most common isotope of helium has two protons and two neutrons in its nucleus. A common hydrogen atom has no neutrons although hydrogen does have isotopes where neutrons are part of the nucleus.
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Notes
- 1.
Neon is produced by air distillation. It is a very small component of ambient air only representing 0.001799 % of the atmosphere (18 parts per million).
- 2.
Helium was also used to pressurize the fuel system during the launching of the Titan IVB/Centaur rocket which launched the Cassini spacecraft into space.
- 3.
Although we mention “high” temperatures, high is a relative term. As helium is a liquid in its ground state, the temperature is high compared to other molecules, like helium.
- 4.
The more specific name of the Van der Waals force between water molecules is Hydrogen Bonding, which is the strongest of the three Van der Waals forces.
- 5.
Hydrogen, helium, and every other element has various isotopes but for the purposes of this chapter, only the primary isotope is used.
- 6.
Named after the German-American physicist Fritz London.
- 7.
Tesla is a unit of measure for magnetic strength. One Tesla is equal to 10,000 Gauss. Earth’s magnetic field equals roughly 0.5 Gauss. Thus, these MRI magnets have a very powerful magnetic field.
- 8.
CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) uses approximately 120 tonnes of helium to cool powerful magnets down to 2.7 K (−271.3 °C). Helium at these even lower temperatures is called a superfluid which has even more amazing properties. For more information on helium’s use in the LHC, please visit: http://home.web.cern.ch/about/engineering/cryogenics-low-temperatures-high-performance.
Further Reading
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“Bo” Sears, W.M. (2015). What Is Helium?. In: Helium. SpringerBriefs in Earth Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15123-6_1
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