19 Astonishing Facts

Helium is the second lightest gas and follows hydrogen. Helium is very valuable in the scientific world and has many applications in the non-scientific world, too. It is extremely useful and practical. Helium is inert which means it won’t combust when combined with air and energy and it is far lighter than air. 

Liquid helium is used to cool some of the most powerful electromagnets in the world. It is also the first known superfluid, or a fluid with many interesting qualities. Helium is actually pretty rare and a limited resource. In fact, we’re running out of it. Yet, it is the second most common element in the universe. 

Here on Earth, though, there are only two places to find it. It can be found in the earth’s atmosphere in its exosphere which is the uppermost layer of the atmosphere. It is such a small amount, though, that it is much too expensive to extract from the atmosphere. The second place is in the ground where pockets of helium are found. It is made through alpha decay.

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