Helium: History, Science, and Uses of a Rare Element

Introduction

Helium is a very unusual and interesting element. It is the second most abundant element in the universe and yet it does not support life. This paper reviews helium — how it was discovered, what its uses are, and where it can be found.

History of Helium's Discovery

In her book on helium, author Heather Hasan writes that in 1785 a man named Henry Cavendish (1731–1810) discovered that the air humans breathe was made up of more than oxygen (O₂), nitrogen (N₂), and carbon dioxide (CO₂). Cavendish did not technically discover helium, although he knew something else was present beyond those known elements (Hasan, 2006).

The historically accepted version of helium's discovery came eighty years later, in 1868, when French astronomer Pierre-Jules-César Janssen was conducting studies of the sun. Using a spectroscope — an instrument that identifies elements by the spectrum of lines produced when those elements are heated — Janssen noted a "yellow line that did not belong to any element" known at that time. Meanwhile, British astronomer Sir J. Norman Lockyer (1836–1920) also used a spectroscope to research elements and, like Janssen, observed a "mysterious yellow line" (Hasan).

Lockyer concluded that the yellow line must indicate an element unknown on Earth but present in the sun. He named it helium, drawing on Helios, the Greek god of the sun (Hasan). Because the element had only been detected in the sun, scientists either doubted Lockyer's finding or searched for helium on Earth. In 1895, Scottish chemist Sir William Ramsay (1852–1916) made the Earth-bound discovery of helium. It is now known that 3,000 times more helium is located beneath the Earth's surface than is found in the atmosphere (Hasan).

Conclusion

Helium is a rare element on Earth, but it has many important uses. Most people know that birthday balloons are filled with helium, and that the blimps hovering over sporting events are kept aloft by helium. It is far less commonly understood, however, how plentiful helium is in the universe, how it was discovered, or what its broader scientific uses are.

Works Cited

Anderson, Don L., G. R. Foulger, and Anders Meibom. "Helium Fundamentals: Helium Fundamental Models." Mantle Plumes. Accessed October 4, 2012.

Hasan, Heather. Helium: Understanding the Elements of the Periodic Table. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2006.

Krebs, Robert E. The History and Use of Our Earth's Chemical Elements: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006.