Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Atmospheric mining is the process of extracting valuable materials or other non-renewable resources from the atmosphere. Due to the abundance of molecular hydrogen and helium in the outer planets of the Solar System, advances in technology may eventually make mining their atmospheres a favorable alternative to mining terrestrial surfaces.
Helium storage and conservation is a process of maintaining supplies of helium and preventing wasteful loss. Helium is commercially produced as a byproduct of natural gas extraction. Until the mid-1990s, the United States Bureau of Mines operated a large scale helium storage facility to support government requirements for helium.
Map showing helium-rich gas fields and helium processing plants in the United States, 2012. From USGS. Helium production in the United States totaled 73 million cubic meters in 2014. The US was the world's largest helium producer, providing 40 percent of world supply. In addition, the US federal government sold 30 million cubic meters from storage.
Helium-4 is an unusually stable nucleus because its nucleons are arranged into complete shells. It was also formed in enormous quantities during Big Bang nucleosynthesis. [113] Helium-3 is present on Earth only in trace amounts. Most of it has been present since Earth's formation, though some falls to Earth trapped in cosmic dust. [114]
Materials on the Moon's surface contain helium-3 at concentrations estimated between 1.4 and 15 parts per billion (ppb) in sunlit areas, [1] [63] [64] and may contain concentrations as much as 50 ppb in permanently shadowed regions. [65] For comparison, helium-3 in the Earth's atmosphere occurs at 7.2 parts per trillion (ppt).
As Pulsar Helium inches closer to building Minnesota's first helium drilling operation near the Iron Range, lawmakers and other officials are scrambling to make sure the government can make money ...
Pure helium-3 gas boils at 3.19 K compared with helium-4 at 4.23 K, and its critical point is also lower at 3.35 K, compared with helium-4 at 5.2 K. Helium-3 has less than half the density of helium-4 when it is at its boiling point: 59 g/L compared to 125 g/L of helium-4 at a pressure of one atmosphere.
Donald Trump mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after his top minister’s surprise resignation following a clash on how to handle the president-elect’s looming tariffs.