P3D Re: Balloons - Flying Cameras

[roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (John W Roberts)]

>Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 21:59:51 -0700
>From: john bercovitz <bercov@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: P3D Re: Balloons - Flying Cameras

>John R writes:
>> 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.

>You might want to compare the price of extracting helium from this
>source with the cost of extracting it from the conventional source 
>(methane gas from certain gas fields).

As far as I know, that is the same source.

Like I said, I don't know the natural rate of replenishment, or whether it
can readily be extracted once the natural gas is pretty much tapped out.
Also - I don't think the earth is really gas-tight - the helium does leak
out at a certain rate.

I think Greg Erker had a good point - helium appears to be mainly a
by-product of natural gas extraction - and it's not economically feasible
to store huge quantities of helium for future use. Are the fields from which
most of the helium is extracted regarded *primarily* as helium sources, or as
natural gas sources?

>Hydrogen - it was good enough for the Hindenberg and it's good enough for me.

If flammability doesn't concern you, I think methane has sometimes been used
for small balloons - the lift should be about half that of helium. I would
consider the use of large volumes of flammable gas by an amateur to be
potentially extremely dangerous.

John R


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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 2472
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