Last updated on January 8th, 2023
41. The US produced over 90% of the world’s usable helium for many years, but there are now plants in other countries like Algeria and Qatar that produce a significant amount of helium.
42. Qatar is now the second-largest producer of helium in the world.
43. According to Robert Coleman Richardson, a Nobel laureate and helium conservationist, helium is used wastefully because of the unregulated market price. Robert suggests that the price should be increased to curb the wasting of helium. In the 2000s, the price of helium dropped after the US Congress decided that the county’s huge stockpile should be sold off by 2015.
44. The age of minerals that contain thorium and uranium can be estimated through helium dating (a process that entails measuring helium levels).
45. In April 2020, the US authorities approved the use of helium for medical purposes both for animals and humans.
46. The helium that’s in the air can be extracted, but the process is more costly compared to the traditional processes.
47. About 370,000 m3 of helium was used during the launch of the Apollo program’s Saturn V rocket.
48. While helium is chemically inert, helium contamination impairs the functionality of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) and because of that iPhones can fail.
49. A trace amount of helium can be found in human blood.
50. In 2016, scientists discovered a huge helium gas field in Tanzania’s Rift Valley Region. They suspect the field holds larger amounts of helium than the US total helium reserves. Such discoveries will ease the global helium demand.