India imports helium for its needs and with the U.S. appearing set to cut off exports of helium since 2021, the Indian industry stands to lose out heavily.
About Helium
Helium is the second-lightest and second most common element in the universe after hydrogen gas.
Helium belongs to the group of noble gases that occupy the far right hand side of the periodic table.
It is the most unreactive (inert) element in the periodic table.
Low chemical reactivity is due to a stable electron arrangement (filled outer shell of electrons).
Helium on Earth
Helium is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2.
It is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas, the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is the lowest among all the elements.
Its discovery
In 1906 a young Englishman by the name of Moris Travers arrived in Bangalore, to take up the position of the Director of Indian Institute of Science.
Travers extracted helium in small quantity by heating up monazite sand abundantly available in Kerala beach, in a pioneering effort.
Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes liquefied Helium by cooling the gas to -270 degrees Celsius.
It is known that Onnes collected helium gas from the springs of Bath in Baden Baden, Germany for his liquefaction experiment.
Helium in India
India’s Rajmahal volcanic basin is the storehouse of helium trapped for billions of years, since the very birth of our Earth from the Sun.
At present, researchers are mapping the Rajmahal basin extensively for future exploration and harnessing of helium.
Why India needs Helium?
Every year, India imports helium worth Rs 55,000 crores from the U.S. to meet its needs.
Helium is used in medicine, scientific research, for blimp inflation, party balloons as well as having welding applications.
It finds many applications, mainly in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, in rockets and in nuclear reactors.
US monopoly in Helium
The U.S. became the most important exporter of helium across the world.
It was soon realized that the U.S. was also the biggest storehouse of helium.
The US is now planning to switch off the export of helium from 2021.
Qatar is a possible exporter but acute political and diplomatic wrangles have made Qatar unreliable.
Important properties of Helium
Helium is a very stable element being chemically inert and nonreactive.
It is nonflammable and nonpoisonous.
Most importantly, it boils at 4.2 Kelvin, or minus 268 degrees Celsius which is the lowest temperature possible in the universe.
No other element can remain a liquid at these temperatures.