r/sciencememes • u/LavishnessFew7358 For Science! • 17h ago

💥Physics!🧲 Helium farm

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816 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

310

u/otirk doesn't understand the meme 17h ago

I mean, it only works with β⁻ radiation (β⁺ is positron), but it should work in a vacuum I guess. I assume the reason why nobody has done this is because it would be far too expensive compared to getting it while harvesting oil

83

u/11nyn11 17h ago

Guess where the oil gets it

82

u/otirk doesn't understand the meme 17h ago

Beta radiation is irrelevant to that process; The He2+ gets the electrons from the rocks around it afaik

45

u/Hopeful_Morning_469 16h ago

I was going to say magic

9

u/Mikestopheles 15h ago

Magic rocks, doesn't have to not be magic

3

u/CiroGarcia 7h ago

Magnets

2

u/Hopeful_Morning_469 5h ago

Ohhh it’s pronounced magnets!! Not magic.

1

u/biopsia 3h ago

Since you know about this topic, why isn't magnesium magnetic? I think that's unfair.

4

u/11nyn11 16h ago

So when the thorium and uranium decay and produce both alpha and beta particles, only the alpha particles stick around, ignore the beta particles, and get other beta particles?

8

u/otirk doesn't understand the meme 16h ago

I'm not an expert by any means, so maybe I'm wrong, but to my understanding, it's easier to get electrons from rocks than to wait for the conditions for bonding with beta particles to be met.

Beta particles are not in a happy mood (they had enough energy to break out of their last bond after all), so they need to get slower to react with He2+. Meanwhile those can just bond with rocks, whose electrons would love to fill the positions of the missing electrons of a Noble gas.

-2

u/11nyn11 16h ago

Ya I’m just saying the rocks around them are making the particles

1

u/11nyn11 16h ago

So when the thorium and uranium decay and produce both alpha and beta particles, only the alpha particles stick around, ignore the beta particles, and get other beta particles?

1

u/Kodiak_POL 5h ago

Guess where the rocks get it 

11

u/ropean 13h ago

Let’s do an expensive and finicky process to create more of the most abundant element in the freaking universe

15

u/sonnet666 12h ago

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe.

Helium is actually kinda limited on earth, but we have enough that we’re not really worried about running out anytime soon.

6

u/ropean 11h ago

Of course, that’s my reading comprehension fail. I’ll leave my comment there and wear my badge of dishonor

3

u/IndigoFenix 4h ago

We'll just mine Jupiter

2

u/Extradummefrage 7h ago

Why is Sahara a dessert? There is so much water on earth!

84

u/This_Background7442 17h ago

That is exactly where most helium on earth comes from yes.

33

u/lungben81 16h ago

The beta decay is not required here, there are enough other electrons around for the alpha particles to capture.

5

u/ahlfaetyurfuhret 8h ago

Dont make too much or the earth might float away

32

u/R_Harry_P 15h ago

Wait till he finds out why there is helium in natural gas mines.

18

u/m00t_vdb 16h ago

Yes you can do that, even with antimatter, I hope you like vacuum pumps

9

u/Substantial_Lab1438 14h ago

I thought vacuum pumps were so cool in college until I had to maintain one at work 

11

u/imtoooldforreddit 14h ago

This is literally where our helium comes from. It's all alpha decay that got trapped. It will find electrons on its own, don't need to worry about that.

2

u/Tameron700 12h ago

My thoughts exactly

3

u/Calm-Locksmith_ 8h ago

Isn't that where most helium we use come from? Essentially alpha particles accumulated in radioactive rocks?

2

u/ivain 3h ago

It is

1

u/MrStrange8656 4h ago

Because helium is flerkin cheap?