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Author Topic:   Helium
Dogmafood
Member (Idle past 348 days)
Posts: 1815
From: Ontario Canada
Joined: 08-04-2010


Message 1 of 11 (690350)
02-12-2013 8:51 AM


Why is the US gov't selling off all of it's helium reserve? The only justification that I have heard is deficit reduction. If helium is so important to so many technologies then this seems like no justification at all. I am thinking that even a modern day politician would recognize that.
What am I missing here? Are they trying to stimulate the private sector into capturing more of it? Are they creating a shortage intentionally to increase the value of the helium that is still to be extracted from the remaining natural gas? Is it really any big deal at all?

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by NoNukes, posted 02-12-2013 10:08 AM Dogmafood has seen this message but not replied
 Message 3 by Taq, posted 02-12-2013 10:56 AM Dogmafood has seen this message but not replied
 Message 4 by AZPaul3, posted 02-12-2013 11:02 AM Dogmafood has replied
 Message 10 by ringo, posted 02-15-2013 11:57 AM Dogmafood has replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 2 of 11 (690353)
02-12-2013 10:08 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Dogmafood
02-12-2013 8:51 AM


Are they creating a shortage intentionally to increase the value of the helium that is still to be extracted from the remaining natural gas? Is it really any big deal at all?
I think the conspiracy stuff is misplaced, but the way we are managing helium might be a big deal.
Should the government be bearing the expense of stockpiling helium? The law in question was enacted in 1996 and was intended to get rid of that expense. The expectation was that the public sector would maintain their own supplies.
Possibly there have been some miscalculations with whether this plan was a good idea. A few people have written books on the topic.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead. William Lloyd Garrison.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

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Taq
Member
Posts: 9970
Joined: 03-06-2009
Member Rating: 5.6


Message 3 of 11 (690359)
02-12-2013 10:56 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Dogmafood
02-12-2013 8:51 AM


Why is the US gov't selling off all of it's helium reserve?
Dumping supply into the market will crash the price and piss off private firms that sell helium, at least that would be my guess.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Dogmafood, posted 02-12-2013 8:51 AM Dogmafood has seen this message but not replied

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AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 4 of 11 (690362)
02-12-2013 11:02 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Dogmafood
02-12-2013 8:51 AM


You must be a young person ... and without older relatives.
There is a movement across the land by the senior set that has become all the rage. You know, of course, that when you breathe in helium it chills the vocal chords and you can make high pitched squeeky voices that are quite funny. The practice among us old folk is to do so with flavored/perfumed cannisters of helium.
Are you familiar with those "smoke shops" where you can sit with a hooka smoking all kinds of flavored tobaccos and drinking herbal teas? In our retirement communities the "He Club" is springing up. In addition to the helium cannister you can get stewed prunes, jello salad and an assortment of liniments, salvs and balms. And then you can play checkers, pinochle, bridge, etc.
Anyway, the demand for Helium for these clubs is growing as the population ages and is to the point where the only way to satisfy the demand is from the national helium reserve. To not do so would create major problems for the politicos since it is this senior population that is most active in staffing, supporting and opposing candidates. There really is no other choice. Give out the helium or face the "Gray Panthers'!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Dogmafood, posted 02-12-2013 8:51 AM Dogmafood has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 6 by Panda, posted 02-12-2013 11:44 AM AZPaul3 has replied
 Message 8 by Dogmafood, posted 02-13-2013 8:17 AM AZPaul3 has replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 5 of 11 (690364)
02-12-2013 11:19 AM
Reply to: Message 3 by Taq
02-12-2013 10:56 AM


Dumping supply into the market will crash the price and piss off private firms that sell helium, at least that would be my guess.
The selling has been going on since 1996. The problem seems instead to be, what happens to price when the US stops selling helium from the reserve.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead. William Lloyd Garrison.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass

This message is a reply to:
 Message 3 by Taq, posted 02-12-2013 10:56 AM Taq has not replied

  
Panda
Member (Idle past 3712 days)
Posts: 2688
From: UK
Joined: 10-04-2010


(1)
Message 6 of 11 (690370)
02-12-2013 11:44 AM
Reply to: Message 4 by AZPaul3
02-12-2013 11:02 AM


AZPaul3 writes:
Anyway, the demand for Helium for these clubs is growing as the population ages and is to the point where the only way to satisfy the demand is from the national helium reserve. To not do so would create major problems for the politicos since it is this senior population that is most active in staffing, supporting and opposing candidates.
Is it also easier to get out of your armchair if you are filled with helium?
And could pensioners then travel in to town like this?:
Edited by Panda, : No reason given.

"There is no great invention, from fire to flying, which has not been hailed as an insult to some god." J. B. S. Haldane

This message is a reply to:
 Message 4 by AZPaul3, posted 02-12-2013 11:02 AM AZPaul3 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 7 by AZPaul3, posted 02-12-2013 12:28 PM Panda has seen this message but not replied

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(2)
Message 7 of 11 (690378)
02-12-2013 12:28 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by Panda
02-12-2013 11:44 AM


Panda,
I don't know about either of those but I can tell you that you just have not lived untill you hear some little old lady yelling "BINGO!" at the top of her lungs after taking a hit on Cherry Blossom Air. It's to die for.
... which periodically does happen.

This message is a reply to:
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Dogmafood
Member (Idle past 348 days)
Posts: 1815
From: Ontario Canada
Joined: 08-04-2010


Message 8 of 11 (690436)
02-13-2013 8:17 AM
Reply to: Message 4 by AZPaul3
02-12-2013 11:02 AM


You must be a young person ...
I have been described as child-like but it has been a long time since anyone called me young.
-----
Well thank you all for appreciating the gravity of this subject.
By the way, why isn't there a cloud of escaped helium in the uppershere? If we don't have enough gravity to keep it here what is it doing on the moon?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 4 by AZPaul3, posted 02-12-2013 11:02 AM AZPaul3 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 9 by AZPaul3, posted 02-13-2013 8:39 AM Dogmafood has seen this message but not replied

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 9 of 11 (690442)
02-13-2013 8:39 AM
Reply to: Message 8 by Dogmafood
02-13-2013 8:17 AM


By the way, why isn't there a cloud of escaped helium in the uppershere?
Because it escaped?
... what is it doing on the moon?
Not much. It's buried in the composition of the rock (the regolith) and will not be going anywhere soon.
The solar winds (mostly electrons and protons) strike the moon rock and can turn hydrogen into helium-3. Can't do that on earth since we have a magnetic bubble protecting us.

This message is a reply to:
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ringo
Member (Idle past 411 days)
Posts: 20940
From: frozen wasteland
Joined: 03-23-2005


(1)
Message 10 of 11 (690701)
02-15-2013 11:57 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Dogmafood
02-12-2013 8:51 AM


Dogmafood writes:
Why is the US gov't selling off all of it's helium reserve?
It's a clear indication that they're not planning on building any more Zeppelins any time soon.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Dogmafood, posted 02-12-2013 8:51 AM Dogmafood has replied

Replies to this message:
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Dogmafood
Member (Idle past 348 days)
Posts: 1815
From: Ontario Canada
Joined: 08-04-2010


Message 11 of 11 (690732)
02-15-2013 2:39 PM
Reply to: Message 10 by ringo
02-15-2013 11:57 AM


It's a clear indication that they're not planning on building any more Zeppelins any time soon.
Too bad. It is such an elegant way to fly. I thought it would make good economic sense to use them for freight transport to inaccessible areas. Drone blimps carrying food to the frozen north.

This message is a reply to:
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