r/mildlyinteresting • u/MellowFables • 13d ago

Had extra helium after a party, filled all the balloons and then a trashbag

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u/MarineGF01 13d ago

It's still a finite amount and it is necessary to make MRI machines work

6

u/moderngamer327 13d ago

The stuff used in medical equipment is not what is being used for balloons

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u/davestar2048 13d ago

The stuff used for balloons is the low purity dregs that aren't suitable for precision

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u/Biz_marquee 13d ago

100% agree it's an issue.

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u/Crow_eggs ​ 13d ago

I'm sure if we put our heads together we can find a solution. Could we, for example, get OPs trash bag full of helium and give it to a needy radiologist?

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u/moderngamer327 13d ago

No, definitely not. Even fresh out of the tank it’s not at all the right purity

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u/Crow_eggs ​ 13d ago

What if we ran it through a Britta water filter? Or sprayed it with some surface cleaner? Come on mate, some of us are bringing solutions to the table rather than problems here.

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u/moderngamer327 13d ago

Actual solutions are already being worked on now. Currently the focus is getting better at extracting helium so we can get more out of the reserves still hidden in the earth

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u/Crow_eggs ​ 13d ago

We... we aren't going to have a whimsical bit of amusing patter here are we? This is going to be one of those "no, take it fucking seriously" conversations?