Article
JAMES DEVANEY/GETTY IMAGES

Going, Going, Gone?

Helium has all kinds of uses. But is the world running out of this special gas?

By Jackie Appel
From the October/November 2022 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will explain why helium’s unique properties make it an important natural resource for different human activities.

Lexile: 860L; 670L
Guided Reading Level: S
Download and Print

Look up at the sky—it’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Snoopy, Pikachu, and Sonic the Hedgehog! Seeing these characters floating overhead can mean just one thing—it’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! The annual New York City event rings in the holiday season with floats, performers, and giant balloons.

To pull off the parade, it takes hundreds of people, plus one special substance: helium. Helium gas is less dense, or has less matter in a given space, than air. That’s what allows it to lift up balloons. Helium also has important uses in medicine, technology, and more (see Beyond Balloons).

But helium is a nonrenewable resource. That means there is a limited amount of it on Earth. Helium is found in cracks in rocks underground. Mining it is difficult and expensive. At times in recent years, there hasn’t been enough helium available to meet the world’s demand. That has some people worried: Is the world running out of this very special gas?

Precious Element

Helium is one of 118 known elements in the universe. Elements are the building blocks of everything from germs to giant stars. Each element has different properties. Some are magnetic, while others glow. Helium is the second-lightest element. That’s why people use it to fill blimps and balloons (see Lighter Than Air). Helium’s other properties make it useful too. It has a very low condensation point. That’s the temperature at which it turns from gas to liquid. The temperature, -269°C (-452°F), can be reached on Earth only by using special machines.

Because liquid helium is so cold, it is often used to keep machines from overheating. For example, the MRI machines that doctors sometimes use to look at the insides of a person’s body can produce a lot of heat. Sending cold liquid helium through these machines keeps them from getting too hot and shutting down.

Helium is also useful because it doesn’t easily react with other elements. chemical reactions cause substances with new properties to form. The stability of helium “makes it safe to use for all kinds of purposes,” says Maosheng Miao. He’s a physicist from California State University, Northridge.

From Rock to Balloon

The U.S. produces more helium than any other country in the world (see Top Helium Sources). The gas used in the Macy’s parade is mined in Kansas. How does it get to New York City streets?

To mine helium, a machine drills into the ground until it hits a pocket of gas. The gas is collected into a machine that cools it down. That cold temperature causes the helium to change forms, transforming into a liquid. This allows it to be separated from other gases that may have been collected.

Liquid helium is transported in containers. It’s turned back into a gas before it gets to New York City. Staff fill the giant balloons the day before the parade. “At first, the balloons look like flattened pancakes,” says Matt Kaprielian, assistant balloon manager at Macy’s Parade Studio. “As the balloons fill up, they take shape and begin to float.”

After the parade, the balloons are packed away to “hibernate” until next year, says Kaprielian. The helium is released into the air. The superlight gas floats up and into the atmosphere.

People at a parade filling up a large dog balloon

JAMIE MCCARTHY/GETTY IMAGES

Workers inflate a balloon with helium before the Macy’s parade.

Running Low?

But is all that helium too precious to release? In recent years, the element has sometimes been hard for industries to get. Because helium is so expensive to mine, companies often charge high prices for it. Wars and other conflicts can cut off supply and cause the price to increase. Some scientists have had to shut down machines because they don’t have helium to keep them running.

Luckily, there is still plenty of helium on Earth, says Allison Sandoval. She works for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which manages the U.S. helium supply. “There are about 80 years of known helium reserves underground in Wyoming alone,” she says.

As companies mine the known helium sources, they are also searching for more of the gas in the ground. Industries that rely on the element are also finding ways to conserve it. Scientists are collecting helium after it’s used in experiments. Macy’s parade organizers are looking for ways to recycle the helium they use for balloons.

With these efforts, experts believe helium will be around to fill parade balloons for decades to come. “People worry about important natural resources running out,” says Sandoval. “Fortunately, helium is not one of those things.”

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

1. ENGAGE: Activate prior knowledge about density.

  • In advance, get two balloons that are about the same size: a helium-filled one and an air-filled one. Tie the same amount of ribbon on each one.
  • Hold both balloons down on a table. Ask: Are these balloons filled with the same gas? How could you find out? Let students discuss. Making sure it won’t float out of reach, let go of the balloon filled with helium. Repeat for the air- filled balloon. Ask: What do you think now? (They are filled with different gases because they behaved differently.) Encourage ideas about why the two gases acted differently.

2. EXPLORE: Investigate how much a helium balloon can carry.

  • Play the video “Making Macy’s Parade Balloons.” Discuss what students learned about helium.
  • Explain that helium is less dense than air. That means that if you took the same volume of each gas, the helium would have less matter in it. This low density allows helium to lift a balloon in the air. Show students the two balloons from Step 1 again. Sketch what the particles inside the air-filled balloon look like and what those in the helium-filled balloon look like (fewer particles in the helium-filled balloon).
  • Watch the “Science in a Snap” video and preview the Carry That Weight hands-on investigation. (Note: You could buy just one balloon and set up the activity as a station or center.) Balloons should have a ribbon long enough for students to reach when the balloon touches the ceiling. Have students complete the activity. Then discuss their results and conclusions as a class.

3. EXPLAIN: Read an article about this unique natural resource.

  • Read the article aloud. Pause and examine the diagram on page 19. Ask: What do you think would happen if the blimp were filled with a gas denser than air? (It would sink.)

4. EXTEND: Interpret a circle graph about the uses of helium.

  • Preview the Where’s That Helium Headed? graph activity, briefly discussing the categories. Have students complete the questions.
  • Ask: Based on this data, and on the article and video, do you think parades are a good reason to use this nonrenewable resource? What are some arguments for using helium in parades? What are some arguments against it? Let students think and share their opinions.

5. EVALUATE: Reinforce core science ideas with a low-stakes assessment.

  • Remind students to refer to the article as they complete the No-Sweat Bubble Test.
  • Reconvene as a class when students have finished. Read each question aloud and have students show their answers so you can quickly assess understanding: Have students hold up 1 finger for A, 2 for B, 3 for C, and 4 for D. Clarify any areas of misunderstanding.

Text-to-Speech