Helium

=**Helium**= Helium, one of the nobel gasses, is the second element in the periotic table. Helium's atomic symbol is He, it has the atomic number of 2, and an atomic mass of 4.003. Helium almost always accures as a gas because it has the lowest melting point of any elememt which is -272.2 degrees Celcius and the lowest boiling point of the elements; 268.93 Celcius. Helium is a non-toxic, oderless, colorless, and tastless gas. This element is one of the most abundant in the universe (second to hydrogen) but it's rare on Earth.

Discovery
Helium was,actually, dicovered on the sun before it was found on Earth. Jules Janssen was the first credited of oberving hellium because he noticed a line of light cirling the moon during a total solar eclipse and asumed it was caused by sodium hypothosized that the line of light around the moon during a total solar eclipse was caused by undiscovered element instead of sodium as previously thought. Using spectrography, Janssen discovered the element helium. Later that year, on November 20th, Norman Lockyer concluded, using spectography, that the line of light wasn't caused by sodium, but by a new element. He named this element Helium, based on the greek word for sun, //helios//.

Uses
Helium has a wide variety of uses which include: cooling magnets in MRI matchines, filling rubber balloons, keeping blimps in the air, and industrial leak detection.


 * Interesting Facts**
 * When in contact high voltages, helium gas glows purple
 * Helium II will creep over the edge of it's container to reach an equal level.

Sources: wikipedia.org wikianswers.com

Page created by Eze Pojmann