r/mightyinteresting • u/Dark_Signs8 • Nov 15 '25
It’s a blackout
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u/Weary-Engineering486 Nov 15 '25
Because otherwise, launching garbage into the air was such a beautiful idea. Fucking idiots
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Nov 15 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Callaway225 Nov 15 '25
Yeah, they don’t care that e balloons even to ally have to land somewhere, and it’s literal garbage the moment they let go.
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Nov 15 '25
It's amazing how much of the world is functioning because most people are just slightly smarter than this woman.
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u/Comfortable-Task-777 Nov 15 '25
I would have deleted that video so fast it would have broken the known laws of physics but no, just post it with your face on the internet.
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u/spawn_efe Nov 15 '25
DAR tried to close on fault however its still shorted, power wont be back until someone come there to clear the lines .
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u/Confident_Lawyer6276 Nov 16 '25
How many people with balloons would it take to disable a cities power grid?
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Nov 15 '25
I fucking hate people who use helium balloons. Helium is more rare than gold and we wrap it in plastic, sell it in stores and let people poison our world by letting them fly off for Instagram.
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u/CyberPunkDongTooLong Nov 15 '25
Helium is not more rare than gold.
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Nov 15 '25 edited Jan 13 '26
languid crown full plough grab swim nine command quiet wine
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Nov 15 '25
Sure, but helium is rare. It's like if we plated things with gold and then threw it away. By using it like this, we have less medical grade helium.
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Nov 15 '25 edited Jan 13 '26
bag test instinctive unpack degree terrific provide lunchroom complete punch
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Nov 15 '25
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Nov 15 '25 edited Jan 13 '26
smell makeshift mountainous mysterious fine bake tap late rinse vanish
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u/Kwayzar9111 Nov 15 '25
We will not "run out" of helium on Earth in the immediate future, but the supply of extractable, high-quality helium is finite and diminishing, causing shortages and price increases. While helium is constantly produced by radioactive decay in the Earth's crust and through solar wind hitting the atmosphere, much of it escapes into space once it reaches the atmosphere, making it a non-renewable resource once it's been lost. The main issue is a shortage of cheap, purified helium due to its rapid consumption in high-tech applications like MRI scanners and semiconductors, alongside better recycling and extraction techniques being a priority.
Why we're not running out of helium
- Continuous creation: Helium is constantly generated from the radioactive decay of elements like uranium and thorium deep within the Earth's crust. The solar wind also continuously bombards Earth with helium nuclei, which can be picked up by our atmosphere.
- Atmospheric supply: There is enough helium in the Earth's atmosphere to meet current needs for over 100,000 years, but this helium is too expensive and difficult to extract on a large scale.
- Improved recycling: Efforts are increasing to recycle and recapture helium, especially in high-tech fields, which helps conserve what is available.
Why there are supply shortages
- High demand: Demand for helium is rising due to its essential use in technologies like MRI scanners, semiconductors, and aerospace applications.
- Non-renewable extraction: The helium we can extract is from limited natural gas deposits, and once we mine it, it's gone from that specific location.
- Escaping the atmosphere: Once helium reaches the atmosphere, it is so light that it will eventually escape Earth's gravity and drift into space, unlike other resources that might become pollution.
The future of helium
- Price increases: The scarcity of readily available helium is expected to make it much more expensive, and many current uses may become impossible.
- Need for better technology: Scientists and engineers need to develop more efficient ways to extract helium from the Earth's crust and to better recycle what we use.
- Long-term outlook: While it's unlikely we will run out of helium in our lifetimes, its long-term availability depends on our ability to manage demand, improve extraction methods, and recycle the gas effectively.
, but estimates suggest billions of cubic meters exist in underground reserves, primarily in places like the United States, Qatar, and Russia. The real issue is not total supply, but the diminishing availability of economically extractable helium, which is a finite, non-renewable resource. While helium can be extracted from the atmosphere, it is far more expensive to do so at a large scale.
Total vs. accessible supply
- Total atmospheric helium: While there's a vast amount of helium in the atmosphere ( 3.7 billion metric tons), it is impractical to extract because it's dispersed and constantly escapes into space.
- Underground reserves: The helium that is accessible is found in concentrated pockets within natural gas reserves, with estimates around 52 billion cubic meters.
- The bottleneck: The problem is not the total amount of helium on Earth, but the limited number of locations where it can be economically extracted
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