“A dream. It’s perfect”: Helium discovery in northern Minnesota may be biggest ever in North America::For a century, the U.S. Government-owned the largest helium reserve in the country, but the biggest exporters now are in Russia, Qatar and Tanzania. With this new discovery, Minnesota could be joining that list.

    • skillissuer
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      4 months ago

      depends on manufacturer, some state it’s just 50%

      • ColeSloth
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        4 months ago

        One of the things I read said it has to be at least 93% to make balloons float.

        • skillissuer
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          4 months ago

          i’ve took time to actually look up various manufacturers’ datasheets and it’s: range 50-99%, 95%, 97%, range 95-100%, 99%, unspecified or just data for pure helium. at this point i’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as “balloon gas manufacturer”, everyone buys 4N+ cryogenic helium and balloon gas consists of odds and ends that come from flushing piping and empty bottles with better stuff

        • skillissuer
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          4 months ago

          how much do you need to float, if it’s helium then 1L lifts about 1g of mass, if it’s 50% helium 50% air it lifts 0.5g per liter, then it depends on how heavy balloon is in relation to its volume

          • kalkulat@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            The balloon + helium has to be lighter than the (couple of liters of) air it displaces.

            He Density (at STP) 0.1786 g/L

            The density of air at sea level is about 1.2 g/L

            Another interesting factoid about rare elements: Very little nickel is found in the Earth’s crust. Most nickel has arrived on Earth from meteors. Usually mixed with iron, which held-back the arrival of the iron-age.