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What is helium?
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Helium is a Search …

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Helium is a Diagram of a helium atom

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There are helium atoms inside stars. The star makes community
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Where on earth do we nd helium?

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gets underground when radioactive atoms like uranium
(that are underground) decay and shoot off alpha

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particles, which are the same as helium atoms without      

their electrons. Still underground, the alpha particles find
electrons and join up with them to become helium atoms.
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What is uranium?
More about electrons About the author:
And radioactivity
Dr. Karen Carr is Associate
a room full of colorful helium balloons Professor Emerita,
Helium balloons
Department of History,
Portland State University.
Helium is very light She holds a doctorate in
Classical Art and
Because helium atoms are small, they are very light. Like Archaeology from the
hydrogen, helium is lighter than air, so when you fill
University of Michigan.
balloons with helium, they float.
Follow her on Instagram,
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Helium and explosions buy her book, Vandals to
Visigoths.
But the main thing people use helium for is to keep
things from exploding. Helium atoms are very stable – it’s We're trying to go ad-free!
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There’s a limited amount of helium on earth, and when

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we use it, it floats away into the atmosphere. We get it as
a byproduct of natural gas. Radioactive decay makes
more helium, but not as fast as we’re using it up. So one
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spend more money to find new places where there’s still
some helium left. But not right away. alpha particles atoms

balloons chemistry
Will we run out of helium?
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Did you find out what you wanted to know about the
helium atom? Let us know in the comments! rubber science

Learn by doing: Helium Balloons uranium

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Bibliography and further information Just browsing? Try the Site

Index!
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By Karen Carr | June 2nd, 2017 | Chemistry | 5 Comments

Cite this page: Carr, K.E. What is helium? Atoms,

elements, and chemistry. Quatr.us Study Guides,
June 2, 2017. Web. October 12, 2020.

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About the Author: Karen Carr

Dr. Karen Carr is Associate Professor

Emerita, Department of History, Portland
State University. She holds a doctorate in
Classical Art and Archaeology from the
University of Michigan. Follow her on Instagram,
Pinterest, or Facebook, or buy her book, Vandals to
Visigoths.

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5 Comments

munyaradzi rapozo January 21, 2020 at 11:49 am - Reply

thanks

Richard March 12, 2019 at 11:31 am - Reply

Since an alpha particle is the same as the

nucleus of a helium atom it needs to capture
two electrons to reach a stable state –
presumably as a helium atom. This mental
model may be too simple because one web
site I have seen (which seems quite sensible)
says an alpha’s “short flight knocks about
450,000 electrons out of the surrounding
atoms”. Why is it so reactive? What am I
misunderstanding?

Karen Carr March 12, 2019 at 12:01 pm

It’s the same in terms of what it’s made

of, but different in terms of how much
energy it has, if I understand correctly.
But I’m not a physicist; you should ask
someone who is.

steve cunningham January 8, 2019 at 10:00 am - Reply

thanks

Karen Carr January 12, 2019 at 12:41 pm

Glad we could help, Mr. Cunningham!

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