if we released enough helium balloons would the atmosphere convert to helium, and would life adapt?
537834
Well, actually, the atmosphere is currently about 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen.  \n\nThere's nothing the human race could do, such as releasing balloons, that would convert the atmosphere to helium.  It's just to big!\n\nHelium has little effect on organic life, because helium is inert -- it doesn't react with anything!
1864
It would definitely depend on the gas used. Some gases are heavier than air and would fall istead of rise. Consider also the pressure inside the ballon. It may rupture with the decrease in atmospheric pressure.\nToo many variables to give you a proper answer.
321315
Well.. the sky would be all the area between the earth till what you would refine as outer space. so basicaly the hight of the gases around the earth would be the sky.. in other words the atmosphere.\n\nhave a look at the article below, devides the atmosphere into differnt stages, pick out what you belive to be the limit of the sky. and good luck to your Man :D
766297
There is helium all around us in the air, but it is not a good source for helium collectors. There are only about 5 parts of helium for every 100,000 parts of air! People have discovered much richer sources of helium underground. Some radioactive elements, such as uranium, release alpha particles when they decay. An alpha particle is just a helium atom with no electrons. Deep in the Earth where these radioactive decays take place, the alpha particles capture electrons and become helium. As the radioactive deposits age, large quantities of helium become trapped in underground caverns. To collect the helium, people drill down into the caverns and capture the helium as it escapes. \n\nMost people are familiar with helium balloons. We put helium in these balloons, because it is lighter than air and is non-flammable. However, most of the helium used today is in liquid form. All gases become liquids when the temperature becomes low enough, or when excessive pressure is used. Scientists use liquid helium for experiments that have to be kept very very cold. Helium becomes a liquid at 270oC below zero!
991569
Yes this is an important topic.\nthe amount is tiny really.\nwhy not try to blow up a balloon and never burst it then all th gas will be traped and not effect the environment\nx x x
958860
evaporation would need to something for this to happen then where would the vapor go the chances of oceans drying up in our life times of the human race is nill if it happened the cause would have finished us long before have you any more stupid questions
1165094
It would depend on the amount of Helium within the truck.\n\nJust because Helium is lighter (less dense) than air does not mean that it does not have mass (and thus weight).\nFor a given volume of Helium and air at the same pressure, the Helium would have less mass.  However, if one pressurized the Helium and/or had enough moles of the gas, one could actually be increasing the overall weight of the car by adding the Helium.\nIn orer to lighten the car, the idea would be to displace the surrounding "fluid" (air) but at the same time, by adding as little additional mass as possibe.\n\nAny effects of Helium upon the overall weight of the vehicle will be totally negligible using any normal amount of Helium.  One would need a small blimp's worth of Helium to have any real effect.
70540
oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, methane, helium
978453
With Boyles law, doubling the pressure doubles the mass. No sure what the relative masses of air and helium are, but let`s say it`s 10 to 1, then 10x the pressure is what you need
1019651
According to nuclear physics, we understand that the sun's nuclear furnace has been fusing hydrogen into helium for about 5 billion years and will continue to do so for about another 5 billion years.  When the sun finally expands into a Red Giant and gobbles up the earth, will that be an act of God?  Hey, maybe Hell will come to Earth.  Never thought of that until just now.  To answer your question, global warming is like that goldfish bowl you never clean out.  The poor little fishy finally succumbs in its own waste.   And you can speed up the process by adding more goldfish, which is exactly what we are doing.  Stop breeding altogether for just 20 years and save the world.  It will be interesting to see if a generation will ever evolve, before it's too late, that can be generous enough to agree to do that.
660248
Stars "die" when they run out of hydrogen to turn into helium. Estimares of their life-expectancy are based on spectroscopic evidence of their current composition.
1072113
It has been stated that the sun has a great deal of hydrogen within it due to the necessity of it being converted into helium, and the energy difference generating its heat potential.  There is a problem with this concept.  Although there is energy release in the conversion of hydrogen to helium, the interior of our sun is not what has been taught in your school.\n\nWere you to determine the acceleration value of a mass 400 miles from the very center of our sun, you would find that were a mass to be released in this location, it would accelerate to a speed greater than that of light in one second.  This means there is not a continual atomic furnace generating heat by the process of hydrogen to helium as taught.  Either there is a hollow area within our sun where mass cannot exist, or there is a new form of mass unknown to mankind.  Offhand I would reject the last.\n\nThe reason helium and/or oxygen could not burn within our sun is that the pressure surrounding the gases is too great.  Notice when you burn a piece of paper how the smoke spreads outward along with the heat energy.  Within the sun the heat energy is already beyond that of what we would experience on our planet.  There is nothing to change.
564994
Not the easiest thing in the world to get to O3 from H20...\n\nPlus large ice balls in our atmosphere have an unpleasent history of killing things...
143420
The helium from most of the alpha particles, however, has been trapped deep within the earth, not far from the top of the mantle. Helium diffuses very rapidly, so it can be expected to have been mobile in the crust. The Great Plains of the United States consist of a thin crust of sedimentary rock on a basement of igneous rock that would be a source of radiogenic helium. The helium has collected where other gases have collected, depending on the chances of distribution. In some of these gases, helium is present up to about 8% by volume, a surprising amount. However, in most gases the abundance is less than 1%, sometimes much less, and the occurrence is very rare on a world-wide basis. Some natural gas or well helium, as radiogenic helium from the earth is also called, is found in the Canadian west, and, in lesser quantities, in gas associated with the blue rock salt of Germany, and a few other locations. There may also be helium in Siberia, where the geologic conditions resemble those of the Great Plains.\n\nPorous and permeable rocks deep below the surface are often saturated with salt water, at a pressure of the same order as the hydrostatic pressure at that depth, called the formation pressure. Since 33 ft of water corresponds to 1 atm, or 14.7 psi, the formation pressure at 3300 ft would already be 1470 psi. Gases in permeable rocks collect at the highest points they can reach, and there form a "cap" of gas, possibly underlaid with liquid petroleum. A well drilled into the part of the formation containing liquid petroleum would soon fill with the liquid and flow out of the hole, as quickly as it could ooze into the hole. The weight of the petroleum would largely balance the formation pressure, so the oil would generally flow placidly. In rare cases, the formation pressure might be high enough to project a jet into the air, a "gusher." As formation pressure is lost, as it always is when holes are drilled, the oil might not reach the surface, and then it would have to be pumped out mechanically. Oil cannot be sucked from rocks; you can only collect what shows up.\n\nWith gas, what happens is quite different. The gas is so light that it cannot balance the formation pressure, and the gas exits from the hole at high pressure, unless confined (perhaps by the fluids used in drilling the well). Such a well was called a "blower" in early days, and the owners hardly realized that what was blowing out was, in effect, their wealth, since with depleted formation pressure little oil or gas could be produced. A gas well is exhausted when the pressure is no longer sufficient to bring the gas to the surface at sufficient pressure. These days, much gas in the western United States is produced from shallow coal-bed wells or from formations of small permeability, or "tight" formations. This gas has to be compressed before it can be put into the gas pipeline.\n\nNatural gas is often thought of as methane, CH4, and most marketable natural gas is chiefly methane. However, the gas ranges from a rich gas containing considerable ethylene and even heavier components, which give it a high heating value, down to lean gases containg so much nitrogen that it will not even burn if ignited. The bacteria that produced the oil also leave behind carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, which are often found in the gas. Hydrogen sulphide makes the gas poisonous and of foul odor; such gas is called "sour." The hydrogen sulphide is relatively easily removed, and the sulphur that results is a valuable by-product. Some gas is almost pure carbon dioxide, and many wells are produced for the carbon dioxide, a valuable chemical. Indeed, carbon dioxide is often pumped underground to repressurize a formation, and serve as a lubricant for getting the oil out. Sweet natural gas has little odor and is not poisonous.\n\nSome of this natural gas also contains helium. Gas rich in helium usually also has considerable nitrogen, but
282829
This is similar to asking why gravity doesn't affect boats. It does, but buoyancy keeps them above water. Similarly, if you push a hollow rubber ball down to the bottom of a pail of water and simply release it, it will pop back up to the surface.\nThe helium balloon is just being pushed up by the relatively higher air pressure under it. See the sources for a detailed calculation and a diagram of the pressure situation.
172574
AP Physics is phun, dont let anyone tell you otherwise.\n\nFirst, find the volume of the balloon.\nThe volume of a sphere = 4/3 pi * r^3\nyou are given the radius, so this should be no problem.\n\nOnce you know the volume of the balloon, find how much Helium and air it would take to fill it.\nYou could do this two ways, (the Physics way or the Chemistry way) either by using the molar masses of the gasses....or using the densities of the gasses, the density way is probably easier, but you either need to have those given to you or you can look them up and assume what temperature the experiement is taking place at.\nYou need to find the masses of each of the gasses.\n\nThe lifting force of the balloon will equal the difference in the upward and downward forces acting on it.  The downward force is the force of the Helium's weight, the upward for is the weight of the air that the balloon is displacing (we ignore the weight of the ballooon).\n\nIf you want to believe wikipedia,\nthe density of air at 20 degrees C = 1.204 kg/m^3,\n\none mole of Helium = 4.00 grams.\nAt STP 1 mole of Helium would have a volume of about 22.4 Liters.
1104438
At 20 degrees Celsius, a helium balloon provides a lift of about 0.9935 grams per liter. Take the weight of your payload in grams, divide by this figure, and you'll have an idea of how big of a balloon you would need.