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Helium-3 (3He[1][2] see also helion) is a light, stable isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron. (In contrast, the most common isotope, helium-4, has two protons and two neutrons.) Helium-3 and protium (ordinary hydrogen) are the only stable nuclides with more protons than neutrons. It was discovered in 1939.
In stars, however, 3 He is more abundant, a product of nuclear fusion. Extraplanetary material, such as lunar and asteroid regolith, has traces of 3 He from solar wind bombardment. To become superfluid, 3 He must be cooled to 2.5 millikelvin, ~900 times lower than 4 He (2.17 K).
As helium-3 leaked from the core, it ascended to the surface through the mantle in the form of magma plumes that eventually erupted on Baffin Island. “During the eruption, the vast majority of ...
Similar cooling of helium-3, which has a lower boiling point, can achieve about 0.2 kelvin in a helium-3 refrigerator. Equal mixtures of liquid 3 He and 4 He below 0.8 K separate into two immiscible phases due to their dissimilarity (they follow different quantum statistics: helium-4 atoms are bosons while helium-3 atoms are fermions). [29]
Helion Energy, Inc. is an American fusion research company, located in Everett, Washington. [ 2 ] They are developing a magneto-inertial fusion technology to produce helium-3 and fusion power via aneutronic fusion, [ 3 ][ 4 ] which could produce low-cost clean electric energy using a fuel that can be derived exclusively from water.
Helium-3 propulsion would use the fusion of helium-3 atoms as a power source. Helium-3, an isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron, could be fused with deuterium in a reactor. The resulting energy release could expel propellant out the back of the spacecraft. Helium-3 is proposed as a power source for spacecraft mainly because of its ...
Updated January 26, 2024 at 8:36 AM. On Thursday, the U.S. government sold the Federal Helium Reserve, a massive underground stockpile based in Amarillo, Texas, that supplies up to 30% of the ...
Helium is composed of two electrons bound by the electromagnetic force to a nucleus containing two protons along with two neutrons, depending on the isotope, held together by the strong force. Unlike for hydrogen, a closed-form solution to the Schrödinger equation for the helium atom has not been found.