Alright guys, let’s take a short trip back in time to the chemistry lab in school. Remember the burnt fingertips, the awe and fear for concentrated sulfuric acid, the lightest noble gas? Oh, did I get you there! The lightest noble gas – yeah, Helium. What could be “noble” about a gas, you’re entitled to ask because it’s been such a long time since those chemistry lectures that you anyway never attended. Well, helium is a noble gas because it is totally chemically inert. That is, it considers mixing and reacting with other chemicals and elements to be beneath its position as the leading element of the “noble gas” group that also includes Neon, Argon, Krypton, and Xenon.
But now 140 years since its discovery and efforts by scientists to knock Helium off its noble pedestal, it seems that finally Helium could be made to react with another gas.
Here are some interesting facts about Helium -
- Artists inhale helium in small quantities to make their voice sound high-pitched and squeaky.
- Helium can exist only as a gas; it’s boiling and melting points are the lowest amongst all elements.
- Very cold helium is an excellent superconductor, it is difficult to hold the cold gas down as it can climb up the walls of containers and escape.
- Helium is lighter than air and therefore the universal filler for balloons big and small. The early dirigibles made use of hydrogen which is seven times lighter than helium but very flammable. The lesson was painfully learnt when the Hindenburg caught fire in 1937 in New Jersey.
Check out this video of guy inhaling helium and sounding like a cartoon character.
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