Is it time to ban balloon releases, or indeed balloons altogether?
I'd say yes, not just for the rubbish they scatter over the countryside but also because as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has recently hopefully demonstrated, helium is a finite resource with important medical and scientific applications
I've been complaining about balloons for years now, these things can turn up literally everywhere when they finally fall from the sky.
https://tangledbankforaging.co.uk/2018/11/21/out-of-sight-out-of-mind-the-problem-with-balloons/
And balloons can trap wildlife of literally every size.
@afewbugs strong agree from me.
No one *needs* a helium balloon.
Edit: referring to party balloons not meteorological or other scientific
Have you ever seen this sketch?
I’m with you.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt2s9BISO_Q&pp=0gcJCcQBo7VqN5tD
Attached video is a Dara O’Brian short about helium balloons and MRI scans
The garbage is a mad issue to be sure, but please be aware that helium in MRI is not the same helium we use in balloons. He has 2 isotopes (He3 and He4). He3 was only formed in the initial stages of our solar system so is exceedingly rare, unless you are in the core pf our and/or somewhere where solar eind can accumulate (ie moon). In face we geochemists use the He3/4 ratios to figure out of something might have come from deep within the earth's interior.
He4 is the second most abundant element in the universe. Balloons use He4, MRIs use He3.
I believe we're talking about different things, Helium is plentiful on a galactic scale, but here on the earth, it escapes into the atmosphere very readily, and only comes in useful quantities from underground reservoirs. Most of the usage of helium for science and medicine is liquid helium being used for cooling equipment to temperatures that simply cannot be reached any other way. That doesn't require special isotopes, just anything that has a nearly 0 K boiling point.
Now there are different purity grades for helium, but that's simply a matter of how well they've separated the other gases out.
@sellathechemist @afewbugs @JessTheUnstill @KimSJ
Yes absolutely. It's is actually a really interesting crossover between geochemistry (ie how abundant what elements are where on Earth), but also how hard they are to refine. Si for example is the second most abundant element but also one of the most difficult to refine to high purity, which is why high purity wafers are so expensive but SiO2 costs next to nothing.
Didnt want to imply that helium was abundant where we live, its actually somewhere between palladium and gold in terms of crustal abundance, so quite rare. But however rare He is, He3 is orders of magnitude less abundant (0.0002% of all Helium on Earth).
There are places of much higher concentration, which is both an interesting geochemical but also economic question.
Some gas seeps in southern Tanzania have up to 10% He, and are actually also enriched in He3.
One of the reason i love Economic Geology, where geochemistry and real world issues overlap =)
@PhilGopon @sellathechemist @afewbugs @JessTheUnstill @KimSJ
Balloon gas also contains air to prevent it being a cause of accidental (or even deliberate) asphyxiation. I still think the party balloons should be banned/restricted due to the environment impact.
Also a few years back saw a group of youths get chewed out by train guards at the railway station as they were letting their mylar / foil party balloon float perilously close to 25 000 V overhead line - they were putting themselves at danger or at very least could have caused a flashover which would result in emergency switch off of power and all the London/Norwich trains being delayed for hours..
@PhilGopon " He4 is the second most abundant element in the universe"
Not sure what the point of this statement is. How abundant something is in the universe really doesn't matter when it is not where you can reach it.
MRI does not use He4 for cooling?
@afewbugs
Vile things, helium balloons.
I try to smother feelings of violence, but the "Oh, but it's pretty!" excuse for poisoning and other destruction makes me want to slap.
When I read of war-created problems with helium supplies I thought, after horror at the implications for medical applications, that at least it would stop the balloons.
Latex balloons don't hold helium very well. Mylar works better. Latex breaks down outside quickly. Mylar takes HUNDREDS of years.
Two weeks ago big gold 1 and 0 Mylar balloons got stuck in the tree right out my window. They have been torn open by winds and are deflated but they will be out there probably forever. Maybe their string will rot and let them fall out of the tree.
I hike in NE USA regularly and the tops of trees are littered with old Mylar balloons.
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