Why named helium

It seemed that Janssen had discovered a new element, one never before seen on Earth. At the same time, Janssen uncovered a new way of observing the sun without the need of an eclipse, using a modified scope. He sent word of all this to the Academy of Sciences after the eclipse. The two researchers heartily agreed to share the honor of discovery, and later became close friends. But even with the excitement of their observation, questions remained. Most important among them: What exactly had Janssen and Lockyer seen?

Not all scientists believed the observation, as Lockyer was soon to learn. Frankland theorized it might be caused by hydrogen under extreme temperature and pressure, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts to recreate it.

The skepticism over the possibility of an element existing in space but not on Earth is perhaps no surprise, given that it was the first of its kind. Science historians James L. Marshall and Virginia R.

Not everyone was so skeptical. American scientist John William Draper extolled the discovery in in an address to the inaugural meeting of the American Chemical Society. Italian physicist Luigi Palmieri recorded the yellow spectral line in his data while analyzing lava from Mount Vesuvius. That discovery was later followed up by experiments conducted on the gas by Scottish chemist William Ramsay, and by researchers could definitively say that helium existed on Earth as well as in the sun.

Ramsay went on to show helium was a product of the radioactive decay of radium, and placed it in relation to other elements on the periodic table.

As a result, noble gases are stable. The noble gases are located in the far right column of the periodic table of elements — in group column The term may have come from noble metals — gold, silver and copper. These metals are not as reactive as other metals, and in the old days, only aristocratic noble people could afford objects made from them. Fortunately, the chemistry of noble gases is more precise than their etymology word origin! Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe.

Most of this helium was formed within minutes of the Big Bang. New helium atoms are created in stars. Stars like our Sun have extreme temperatures that fuse hydrogen atoms together to form helium atoms.

On Earth, it is a different story. Helium is actually quite rare. Because it is so light, helium does not stay in the atmosphere — it escapes into outer space! There are helium reserves underground. Terrestrial helium is created by radioactive decay and becomes trapped with other natural gases. When the gases are extracted from the ground, the helium is separated from the rest of the gases.

During the first half of the 20th century, helium was quite scarce. The United States had significant reserves but banned exports to other countries. Helium gas is used to inflate blimps, scientific balloons and party balloons. It is used as an inert shield for arc welding, to pressurize the fuel tanks of liquid fueled rockets and in supersonic windtunnels. Helium is combined with oxygen to create a nitrogen free atmosphere for deep sea divers so that they will not suffer from a condition known as nitrogen narcosis.

Liquid helium is an important cryogenic material and is used to study superconductivity and to create superconductive magnets. The Department of Energy's Jefferson Lab uses large amounts of liquid helium to operate its superconductive electron accelerator. Helium is an inert gas and does not easily combine with other elements.

There are no known compounds that contain helium, although attempts are being made to produce helium diflouride HeF 2. Number of Stable Isotopes : 2 View all isotope data. Electron Shell Configuration :. Helium Previous Isotopes Next. History and Uses : Helium, the second most abundant element in the universe , was discovered on the sun before it was found on the earth.