вЂњWe are working on purchasing equipment,вЂќ Sprules said. Sprules believes that recycling helium can be very efficient in addressing the helium shortage. вЂњThe more practical solution is that wherever there are places where helium can be recycled, it should. вЂњYou may want to stop using helium-filled birthday balloons or devices containing semiconductors, but then it becomes a larger question as to what extent you are willing to go,вЂќ Sprules said. Sprules pointed out that most people do not directly use helium in their everyday lives, so placing the onus on individuals rather than industry to conserve helium will not have much effect. вЂњThe material used to do superconducting has to be that temperature There is nothing else that can get that cold, and there isnвЂ™t any semiconducting material that has the appropriate conductance at a higher temperature.вЂќ вЂњFor the NMR and MRI applications, there arenвЂ™t any alternatives because the superconducting magnets have to be at four ,вЂќ Sprules said. There are not many sustainable alternatives to helium to begin with, and in many applications, there are no sufficient replacements at all.

вЂњIf natural gas and petroleum industries get cut down, thatвЂ™s a potential source that we donвЂ™t have anymore,вЂќ Sprules said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. Helium supply is particularly unstable because it relies on other industries, and is often extracted as a byproduct of natural gas and petroleum exploration.

The lab has been affected by helium scarcity, forcing Sprules to search for financial assistance to purchase equipment that can recycle helium. Tara Sprules, a manager of the Quebec/Eastern Canada High Field NMR facility (QANUC) in the McGill Chemistry Department, uses liquid helium to run the machines. When liquefied, it can also be used as a cooling agent for superconducting magnets in MRI scanners and important pieces of chemistry lab equipment, which only work when bathed in liquid helium.ДЄ crucial piece of equipment in chemistry labs is the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) machine, a piece of equipment that is used to observe local magnetic fields around atomic nuclei. Its inert, or unreactive, properties allow it to be used in the welding and manufacturing of semiconductors. However, it has a wide variety of applications, including scuba diving tanks and space flight operations. People often associate helium with balloons or know it as the gas that makes your voice sound funny. Due to its light mass, helium does not stay in the atmosphere, but quickly escapes the EarthвЂ™s surface and travels into outer space. While some continues to trickle to the surface and escape, most of it is extracted for human use. The result of radioactive decay of other elements over millions of years, helium is found in gas pockets beneath the ground.

Helium is a light inert gas that belongs to a group of elements known as the noble gases. This may come as a shock, as helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, but it is also a non-renewable resource that is rapidly being depleted.

Helium element