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| ▲ | hkchad 5 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Yes, there are. The Semiconducter stuff is 6 9's 99.9999, then there's UHP .9995 which is what I use, then .999 mostly welding I think? Then goes down from there. Most 'balloon' grade has some oxygen in it since people like to inhale it and talk funny, adding a little o2 keeps people from dying. | | |
| ▲ | llm_nerd 4 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I have to interject here because I think this is a slightly dangerous claim. Balloon helium is just helium, broadly, at 98%+ concentration. It has a tiny amount of atmospheric gas, mostly nitrogen, in it as there is no need to go too far with purifying it, but there is zero intention of making it any safer to inhale. It is basically accidental contaminants. If you inhale 98%+ helium, the diffusion gradient reverses and oxygen floods out of your blood. Did this once as a kid and actually blacked out. This is functionally just as true at 98% helium with some nitrogen and a tiny amount of oxygen as it is with 99.9999% helium. The difference for inhalation is a wash. Inhaling helium is not advised. The protection we have, such as in my case, is that invariably our rapid physiological response stops us from inhaling helium and oxygen can return. | |
| ▲ | ASalazarMX 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Can't deny it's a funny way of dying, though. | | |
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| ▲ | llm_nerd 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | It's all the same helium, of course, going through different levels of industrial purification. I only clarify this as it isn't like we find super pure reserves in nature and that's what is lucrative, but instead it's all the same contaminated helium and then it gets processed to further and further levels of purification, like many other industrial products. If there is a shortage of helium, it's a shortage of all the same helium. But so long as it's treated as a novelty gas, and so long as it continues to just be wasted, it's hard to take claims of a shortage too seriously. As a fun fact, the vast majority of helium on Earth is courtesy of the radioactive alpha decay chain starting from heavy elements like Uranium and Thorium. Helium got trapped by the same geological formations that trapped natural gas, hence why they're usually found together despite being from completely different processes. |
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