Argon vs Nitrogen for a strut

You'd think Congress would have been advised it'll take a few million more years for alpha decay to produce significant additional helium, and that perhaps we should keep what we have.
 
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3393RP said:
You'd think Congress would have been advised it'll take a few million more years for alpha decay to produce significant additional helium, and that perhaps we should keep what we have.
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But in hoarding all the helium the reserve crated a short term price spike that had the potential to cause real harm to many people due to the availability of helium for MRI machines. It takes a long time for the free market to bring a new helium generating plant online, which is exactly why we have a strategic reserve - to use it strategically to control the supply and helium prices.

Most of the worlds helium is wasted by natural gas companies just because they don’t want to bother capturing it.
 
Soo much fun in here! I use a technical mix of 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, and 1% of other trace gases (Carbon Dioxide, Neon, Argon, Helium, Zenon, Radon, etc...) normally compressed with a 12v flex hose car tire pump. Been using it for years. It's more important to cycle fresh fluid through strut annually with a strut servicing bottle (add a little bit of Granville's strut seal for maximum longevity).

YMMV!
 
kgruber said:
I've never seen a strut rust from the inside out. I just use air.
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I've found rust in struts. Compressing air concentrates atmospheric moisture and the compressed ait can't hold it anymore, so it condenses in the tank and hoses as it cools. Some of it inevitably gets into the strut.

That same moisture causes havoc when spray-painting a fine finish like auto or aircraft paints. So we often need moisture traps for that, unless the environment is very dry.
 
3393RP said:
You'd think Congress would have been advised it'll take a few million more years for alpha decay to produce significant additional helium, and that perhaps we should keep what we have.
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Congress is highly resistant to advice, or science, or at times, reality. Many of the staffers are knowledgeable, but they don't vote on legislation. The time I spent on advocacy in Congress was...frustrating.

Helium is an essential, and a difficult to substitute for, commodity. Science research and medical imaging is highly dependent on a supply of liquid helium for superconducting magnets. Not much else has a boiling point low enough (4 K) to enable these magnets to work. It is so bad that many facilities, including my institution, recovers and recycles helium boil-off from magnets to conserve supply.
 
Domenick said:
Virtually all of the helium produced world-wide comes as a contaminant to natural gas. Fracking has greatly increased the potential helium supply.
https://geology.com/articles/helium/
https://azdeq.gov/helium
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/f...xt-helium-boom-petrified-forest-national-park
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Fracking has always produced less domestic helium than the amount drawn from the reserve. Given the recent political decisions, which will drastically reduce domestic natural gas production, the US is now in a situation where what's left of production will be the only source, and prices are expected to rise.

From your link:

In 2010, all of the natural gas processed for helium in the United States came from fields in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming as shown on the accompanying map. The Hugoton Field in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas; the Panoma Field in Kansas; the Keyes Field in Oklahoma; the Panhandle West and Cliffside Fields in Texas, and the Riley Ridge Field in Wyoming account for most of the helium production in the United States. [2]

During 2010, the United States produced 128 million cubic meters of helium. Of that amount, 53 million cubic meters of helium were extracted from natural gas, and 75 million cubic meters were withdrawn from the National Helium Reserve.

Since the first auction [from the National Helium Reserve], the price of helium continued to rise because production of new helium falls short of consumption. The price increase has triggered investment in new helium processing plants. However, helium can only be produced from natural gas fields with salt or anhydrate as a trap rock. These only occur in a few parts of the world.

Under current law, the National Helium Reserve will be sold-out by 2021. Hopefully the rising investment in helium recovery plants will be adequate to meet the needs of helium consumers when that important source of helium is gone.

My statement above stands.
 
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Where did the helium in the National Helium Reserve come from?

The NHR is simply a STORAGE facility. It's a big geologic dome/cavern the government pumps helium INTO. The helium put into the NHR is extracted from natural gas production.

My statement above stands :)
 
Nitrogen is preferred than air due to air having a very small percentage of moisture and being more stable under different temperatures.
 
Matthew Rogers said:
I already proposed that sometime with the tail section (and wings) filled with bags of helium. You get 1.02g of lift per liter of helium volume. If you could get 100 cu ft of helium inside the airplane, you would get round about 6.25 pounds of lifting force. Not terrible, but pretty weird think to try to do.
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I did this (tires and struts too) right before my last reweigh.
I now have a 450 pound Cessna 150 with a 1150 pound useful load.
 
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Jack Cabano said:
I did this (tires and struts too) right before my last reweigh.
I now have a 450 pound Cessna 150 with a 1150 pound useful load.
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If you put really bright floodlights under the wings, pointed up, you can get a couple of extra pounds on top of even that. Little known DARPA trick. Only works if you're using Imron.
 
Even better - put solar cells under the wings to make electricity from the flood lights. You’ll have enough excess power you could probably get rid of your battery and alternator.
 
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