When we think about what helium gas is used for in life, most people immediately think of party balloons and talking gibberish with high-pitched voices. In fact, without helium, we might never have had supermarket checkout scanners, iPhones, or even the ability to detect difficult cancers. Helium gas is present in almost all aspects of life, from industry and medicine to sports and entertainment. So, what is helium? What is helium gas specifically used for? Let’s find out with Migco in the article below.

What is helium gas?

Helium gas (He) is fully called helium gas. This is a gas found in large quantities in the universe.

Helium is an element in the periodic table of elements with the symbol He. The name of this element comes from Helios, the name of the Sun god in Greek mythology, because the origin of this element was found in the spectrum of the Sun.

Chemical formula (chemical symbol): He
Pronunciation: /ˈhiːliəm/ HEE-lee-əm
Appearance: colorless gas
Atomic mass: 4.002602 u
Melting point: -272.2 °C
Boiling point: -268.93 °C
Atomic number: 2

What is helium gas

Is helium gas dangerous?

As an inert gas that does not react with any substance, helium gas is not dangerous.

– Does helium gas affect humans?

Helium is used in medicine, in breathing mixtures, so there’s no reason it should be toxic. Therefore, it can be said that helium is not toxic and does not affect health.

However, in entertainment applications: inflating balloons, airships, changing voice, etc., if not used properly, it will affect our health.

Is inhaling helium gas toxic and harmful to health?

If parents are concerned about this issue, the answer is that inhaling helium is not toxic. We can inhale helium objectively or subjectively.

Helium is an inert gas, containing no toxic components. So, if your child accidentally inhales this gas, don’t worry!

However, during use, some precautions should be taken to ensure safety.

What is helium gas used for?

Perhaps when we mention helium gas, most of us only know that helium is used to inflate balloons and airships, and for fun voice changes, but we don’t know the other uses of helium gas. So, what is helium gas used for?

Below are some different uses and effects of helium that you may not know exist.

1. What is the role of helium gas in the Internet?

The technology industry has many interesting uses for helium, including providing you with the ability to read this very article.

The optical fiber cables that provide Internet and cable TV access to your home and company are manufactured inside a pure helium atmosphere to prevent air bubbles from getting trapped inside the cable.

2. Your phone and computer

Inside the tablet on your coffee table, the smartphone in your pocket, and the computer on your desk is a semiconductor chip; a small wafer containing a set of circuits that transmit and direct electrical current across the device to perform specific functions.

Helium is used in four different ways in the semiconductor manufacturing process:

In a specialized cooling process.
As a diluent gas for plasma etching.
As a carrier gas for deposition processes.
And as a leak detector.

All modern electronic devices, including video games, TVs, and even solar panels, depend on semiconductors.

3. Apollo

Liquid hydrogen and oxygen are used for rocket fuel, but helium is necessary to clean the fuel tanks after they are empty.

Because helium is inert, it will not react and combust with any traces of oxygen that may remain in the tank. It also won’t freeze in the pipes like any other liquid if used to clean the tanks.

4. In science, what is the application of helium gas?

Helium is used in the Large Hadron Collider. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) relies on large quantities of superfluid helium to operate.

In a three-stage process that takes several weeks to complete, nearly 100 tons of helium are cooled to -456.34°F (colder than outer space) so that the giant magnets that the LHC uses to fire particles around the 17-mile ring don’t overheat. Without helium, there would be no Higgs boson!

5. Nuclear reactors

What is the role of helium gas in nuclear reactors?

The energy industry is exploring different uses of helium. Next-generation nuclear reactors, or Pebble Bed reactors, are high-temperature reactors that are said to be safer and more affordable than traditional nuclear reactors.

The reactor generates heat by using a turbine to pass helium gas through the core, which contains a bed of tennis ball-sized pebbles made of uranium.

6. Divers

To create an artificial atmosphere for divers, the oxygen tank is actually a mixture of 80% helium and 20% oxygen. The addition of helium in a high-pressure environment helps divers breathe more easily.

> Learn more about: Breathing gas mixture – Heliox deep diving gas

7. Emphysema

One of the most important applications for helium is in the medical field. Helium is combined with oxygen to treat asthma, emphysema, and other respiratory problems because this combination reaches the lungs much faster than oxygen treatment.

8. In MRI, what is helium gas used for?

Without helium, hospitals cannot perform MRI scans. MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, uses an extremely powerful magnet to create detailed images of the body’s internal structures.

The high-power magnet must be cooled to operate, and with a low boiling point of -52.2°F, helium is the perfect gas for this task.

9. Welding and Metallurgy

For metallurgical facilities, thanks to its non-flammable properties and rapid heat dissipation, helium gas is used in combination with argon and nitrogen gas to create shielding gases. It cools magnets during arc welding and provides the desired metallurgical effect.
In welding technology, He has higher thermal conductivity, resulting in a hotter arc than when using argon gas. Therefore, He provides better shielding for thick welds than argon. It is used for materials with high thermal conductivity or high melting points, and for high-speed mechanized welding.

10. Leak detection

Due to its high and rapid diffusion properties, helium gas is used to test for leaks in machinery such as ships, car air conditioning systems, and vacuum systems.

11. Applications of helium in gas lasers

Laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
They emit a continuous beam of light consisting of individual wavelengths, often just a few wavelengths, that are coherent and in phase.
Lasers are produced in a variety of shapes and sizes. Lasers are used as light sources in many applications. From CD players to measuring devices and medical instruments used for surgery.
The familiar red light of the Helium-Neon (often abbreviated as He-Ne) laser is used to scan barcodes on goods. But it also plays an important role in many confocal laser scanning microscopy systems.