P3D Re: Balloons - Flying Cameras

[roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (John W Roberts)]

>Date: Sat, 20 Dec 1997 09:32:58 -0700
>From: john bercovitz <bercov@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: P3D Re: Balloons - Flying Cameras

>There is another advantage and that is that you don't want to waste 
>helium which is, believe it or not, a precious resource.  Helium 
>pricing is currently set mainly by market forces and is unreasonably 
>low considering that there is a small, finite, amount of it.  

Actually, helium is alpha radiation, with a couple of electrons added.
The earth produces it all the time - kind of strange for an atomic element
to be produced by a planet.

Within the last year or two, Congress voted to eliminate the Strategic
Helium Reserve - I don't know whether that's been fully implemented yet.
I would guess that means they don't consider supply to be problem at present.

Numbers that would be interesting to find out:
- the total annual usable generation of helium of the earth
- the amount of helium recovered ("mined") annually
- relative usage of helium for recreational and industrial purposes
- the market price for helium in large quantities

My guess would be that much more helium is used for industrial purposes than
for weather and party balloons, and that the amount of helium that might be
used for amateur 3D photography would be completely insignificant compared
to the amount used just for party balloons. :-)

John "The Tellurian Way" R


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