| Helium (He) | ||||||||||
|
General |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Applications |
||||||||||
| • | As an inert gas shield in arc welding. | |||||||||
| • | As a lifting gas for lighter-than-air aircraft. | |||||||||
| • | As a gaseous cooling medium in nuclear reactors. | |||||||||
| • | To provide a protective atmosphere for growing germanium and silicon crystals for transistors. | |||||||||
| • | To provide a protective atmosphere in the production of such reactive metals as titanium and zirconium. | |||||||||
| • | To fill cold-weather fluorescent lamps, to trace leaks in refrigeration and other closed systems. | |||||||||
| • | To fill neutron and gas thermometers. | |||||||||
| • | Used in cryogenic research such as for superconductivity. | |||||||||
| • | In mixtures with oxygen, it has medical applications. | |||||||||
| • | Liquid Helium is widely used for cooling superconductive magnets used in magnetic resonance imaging. | |||||||||
| • | Liquid Helium is extensively used as refrigerant in cryogenics. | |||||||||
