Bad news!
"... Helium is the second-most-abundant element in the universe, but on Earth it’s relatively rare. It results from the decay of uranium, can’t be artificially created, and is produced as a byproduct of natural gas refinement. Only a limited number of countries produce it, with the U.S. and Russia among top suppliers. ...
[the helium shortage] is one that is affecting researchers everywhere. In physics, engineering, chemistry, biology, and medical research, helium and liquid helium are employed whenever cold environments are needed for experiments, including cooling large magnets, MRI machines, or mass spectrometers, or slowing down atoms in condensed-matter physics research. Some 16 Nobel Prizes have been generated by work done using liquid helium, showing how much of a workhorse it has become in these fields because of distinct characteristics of both the gas and liquid. ...
“We are already in that worst-case scenario,” ... “The supply has been cut in half, so half of the experiments [at Harvard University] that rely on liquid helium have been shut down as a result. ..."
[the helium shortage] is one that is affecting researchers everywhere. In physics, engineering, chemistry, biology, and medical research, helium and liquid helium are employed whenever cold environments are needed for experiments, including cooling large magnets, MRI machines, or mass spectrometers, or slowing down atoms in condensed-matter physics research. Some 16 Nobel Prizes have been generated by work done using liquid helium, showing how much of a workhorse it has become in these fields because of distinct characteristics of both the gas and liquid. ...
“We are already in that worst-case scenario,” ... “The supply has been cut in half, so half of the experiments [at Harvard University] that rely on liquid helium have been shut down as a result. ..."
No comments:
Post a Comment