h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Elements: Helium - A1129556
Author: The Lemon Tea-strainer - U230002

This is page 2 of the elements series, currently studying Helium any constructive criticism would be helpful, trolling will be ignored.

hi there.

I like the beginning you have made on the first two entries, but at the moment they read like you think they are almost finished, and they have a long way to go yet.

Using helium as an example, if you mention both the party baloons and the squeeky voice, it is a good idea to mention not using the party baloons to do it. they are filled with low quality helium, and the impurities are definately not good for breathing.

similarly in both the hydrogen and helium articles you fail to mention the uses in fusion. this is a non trivial use, and will definately become more important as time goes on.

you also fail to mention the necessity for the use of helium for deep diving (100+ feet) where nitrogen becomes dangerous.

you also fail to mention the applications in low temperature physics (especially superconductors).

I look forward to reading the update.

oh, one other thing. helium is becoming harder to get, and at the same time more in demand, so the price is going through the roof.

Good point and I am taking this in consideration as we speak, also, I will mention the roles of helum in both fusion and nuclear processes (due to alpha reactivity giving off helium atoms). Sorry to give you the wrong point of view on what I think about the article, then again, if I thought it was finished, it wouldn't be in this review section.

I really like that voice!

This is a good start, I think I don't know much on the subject, but it could use some fleshing out.

Just to make life really akward, I have just stumbled across some really stupid terminology to do with helium.

you get the isotopes helium 3 adn helium 4, but you also get low temperature helium being refered to as helium 3 and helium 4.

the only difference I can find about these two low temperature states is that one of them is a superfluid, and will try and climb out of the bottle. I am not sure which one though.

I think one of Helium's main properties is that it is a Noble Gas (in Group 8 or 0 of the Periodic Table)and is inert. This is due to its electron structure. It has a full outer shell of electrons so it doesn't have to get electrons from other atoms and so in unreactive. Therefore it has a valency of 0. This is what makes it safer to use in balloons than hydrogen which easily explodes. Maybe a mention of its electron structure would be useful?

Great idea! Up with elements!

True, but an increasingly important use is in really low temperature applications. (4 degrees kelvin springs to mind)

thanks for all this info and it will be added as soon as I've caught up on my sleep/Real Life Issues.

I'm probablyu going to structure these elements pages into the groups of the periodic table, e.g. the noble gases, the alkali metals, etc.

Author has elvised - flea market?

Yes that seems a reasonable idea.

If anyone takes this on, they should be very careful with the information in it, as I see a number of basic errors:

Helium has an Atomic Mass of 4, not 2. It is four times as heavy as Hydrogen, as it has two protons and two neutrons while Hydrogen has only one proton and no neutrons. (A proton and a neutron weigh almost exactly the same).

Helium does not form into molecules. It exists in atomic form.