HELIUM

Subject : Science & tech

Context : Every year, India imports helium worth ₹55,000 crore from the U.S.

Concept :

Helium is a colourless, odourless, insipid and non-toxic gas. It’s less soluble in water than any other gas.
It’s the less reactive element and doesn’t essentially form chemical compounds. The density and viscosity of helium vapour are very low.
The thermic conductivity and the caloric content are exceptionally high. Helium can be liquefied, but its condensation temperature is the lowest among all the known substances.
Helium is one of the noble gases of group O in the periodic table. It’s the second lightest element. The main helium source in the world is a series of fields of natural gas in the United States.

Uses of Helium

The primary use of Helium goes in altitudes research and meteorological balloons.
It is utilized as an inert protective gas in autogenous welding.
It is the only cooler capable of declining temperature lower than 15K (-434ºF).
Helium is also used in the production of germanium crystals and silicon crystals.
Since it has the ability to diffuse through solids much faster than air, helium is used industrially for pipeline leak detection.
This element is also used in gas chromatography as a carrier gas.
Owing to its low melting point, liquid helium has numerous applications in cryogenics, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and superconducting magnets.