Helium Definition and 375 Threads

  1. H

    Calculating Speed of Sound in Helium Gas at 293k

    Homework Statement The speed of sound in fresh water at 293k is 1482 m/s. At what temperature is the speed of sound in helium gas the same as that of fresh water at 293k? Helium is considered a monatomic ideal gas (y = 1.67 and atomic mass = 4.003u). A)442K B)377K C)525K D)313K E)633K...
  2. T

    How far would a helium balloon rise if it never burst

    If you released a balloon filled with helium, how high would it go if it never burst from the pressure change?
  3. T

    Quantum Mechanics - Ground State of Helium Atom

    I have confused myself with this by reading a combination of Wikipedia, books and my QM notes and I'm afraid I need someone to untangle me please. Basically what I want to know is, what are the consequences of the Pauli exclusion principle for the ground state of the helium atom? Here's my...
  4. A

    Fusion Reaction of Hydrogen and Deuterium into Helium

    Homework Statement In a fusion reaction, the nuclei of two atoms join to form a single atom of a different element. In such a reaction, a fraction of the rest energy of the original atoms is converted to kinetic energy of the reaction products. A fusion reaction that occurs in the Sun converts...
  5. M

    Spin Triplet of Ortho Helium - Why Total Spin is 1?

    For the ortho state of Helium, the spin part of the wavefunction is symmetric. There are 3 possible symmetric wavefunctions we can construct from the 2 electrons' spins. (^^) (vv) [1/SQRT2] { (^v) + (v^) } I am confused as to why this last state gives a total spin of one? The...
  6. M

    Exchange Interaction - Helium

    Looking thru some notes one this, I came across something which I can't get my head around. The Hamiltonian of the system (Helium atom) is H = H_1 + H_2 + W, the energies (kinetic and electron-nucleus) of electron 1, electron 2 and the interaction between the electrons themselves. To find...
  7. C

    Helium Balloon Problem: Understanding Acceleration & Wind Effects | Klockan3

    Not sure if I understand why the helium-filled balloon hovering in a closed train car, upon acceleration of the train, "will fly forward inside the train car till it hits the front, it won't touch the back of it at all." - quoted from klockan3 I believe the problem ignores wind effects. I...
  8. K

    How Do Helium Lamps Produce Light?

    "In the helium lamp an electron from the discharge impacts on a He atom, ionises it and at the same time excites it to a superposition of several states. For simplicity, let us consider only the states that are of practical importance and assume that the He+ ion immediately after the impact is...
  9. H

    What if I filled my vehicle with helium

    I'm no physicist but find it fascinating... so as a joke/problem I am trying to work out if filling my car's body panels, trunk, backseat area with helium or hydrogen would improve 0-60 performance and why. Assuming that I have hydrogen tight air bladders and neglecting weight distribution from...
  10. D

    Root mean square speed of helium atom

    Homework Statement Helium is used to fill a balloon of diameter 44 cm at 22 degrees C and 0.9 atm. The mass of a helium atom is 4.0026 u, the conversion factor from u to kg is 1.66 x 10^-27 kg/u, the conversion factor from atm to Pa is 1.013 X 10^5 Pa/atm, the universal gas constant is...
  11. M

    Helium Atom Ionization: Dual Electron Energy?

    Can we ionize the helium atom at once? ie the two electrons simultaneously and not one after another. If yes, what is the ionization energy in this case?
  12. C

    How Do They Further Cool Liquid Helium After Liquefaction?

    Ok so when they compress the gas and remove the heat until it liquefies then how do they further cool the liquid. I know they can evaporate a little more of the liquid helium to cool it a little bit more. And i couldn't find much on how a pomeranchuk cell works . Any input will be...
  13. R

    Collision between alpha particle and helium atom

    Why their tracks after collision has an angle 90 degree? Any detail derive?
  14. K

    What is the ending pressure of the Helium gas?

    If I know that liquid helium at 4.2 K (boiling point) occupies 0.01065 L, then how do I calculate the pressure exerted on the walls of its containers if the helium evaporates and warms up to 30 K?
  15. M

    Why does helium have a greater first ionization energy than hydrogen?

    I have had this question in the back of my mind for a while. Hydrogen has 1 proton and 1 electron, and the atom is electrically neutral. So that means that the electrical charge from the electron and the proton cancel each other out as they have equal/opposite charge. Then when you add another...
  16. R

    What Is the Second Ionization Energy of Helium?

    Homework Statement The first ionization energy of an atom is the minimum energy needed to remove one electron. For helium, this is 24.6 eV. The second ionization energy is the additional energy required to remove a second electron. a) Calculate the second ionization energy of helium...
  17. M

    What are the inconsistencies and errors in common measurement units?

    i know the rules of increasing and decreasing atom sizes down and across the periodic table. however, i have met one strange thing when i was given data to plot a graph. the hydrogen atom radius was stated as 32 pm, but helium was 50 pm. when i searched the internet, i found few websites...
  18. K

    How can I calculate the lift of a helium balloon?

    Say I want to send a helium balloon into the sky. For all intents and purposes this balloon is circular, with volume V. I will fill it with helium to the same pressure as the air outside it (I assume that this is important). The weight of the balloon and the payload is W. So, I assume I have...
  19. G

    The physics of losing Helium from the Earth - question

    Helium is seen to be "lighter" than air only when it is confined in a balloon or similar so as to be able to displace the heavier stuff around it. Released loose, the atoms seem to mix with the air around very swiftly. I mean about 50 metres in 2 or 3 seconds, and then it seems to hang about...
  20. R

    Hydrogen atom, muon substitution, helium muon fusion

    Homework Statement Substitute an electron in a neutral hydrogen atom with a muon. a) calculate the Bohr radius of the ground state for this myonic atom of atom. The answer must be right to at least 2 significant digits. b) Calculate the fraction of the myon that is located inside the proton...
  21. S

    Mass a helium balloon can overcome

    Homework Statement The question states "What mass can the balloon lift at sea level where the density of air is 1.22 kg / m^3".. Extra information given are, use of ideal gas equation is needed, which is pV = nRT where p is pressure, V is volume, n is number of moles, R is constant...
  22. J

    The number of Helium atoms in the balloon

    A balloon contains 0.40 mol of helium at 300K. calculate 1/ The number of Helium atoms in the balloon 2/ The average kinetic energy of the helium atom in the balloon 3/ The total kinetic energy of the helium atoms in the balloon I am having a lot of difficulties to manage the ideal...
  23. S

    Does Helium Expands Faster than Air When Heated?

    This is a really confusing issue .. even when asked my professor in thermodynamics he tried to derive many theromdynamic equations and could not come to a conclusion about it if we have two cylinder piston systems ,, they both have the exact same conditions except the kind of gas in each one...
  24. E

    What is the angle between the directions of motion of the helium atom

    Homework Statement Question 1 An alpha particle traveling at velocity u makes an oblique elastic collision with a helium atom moving with a velocity which is negligible compared to u. After the collision the alpha particle moves in the direction inclined at 30 degrees to its initial direction...
  25. J

    Calculating Helium Balloon Buoyancy Force at Launch and 2km Altitude

    Homework Statement A helium meteorological balloon is made of a bag of impervious fabric that does not stretch, and when fully inflated forms a spherical shell of 1m diameter enclosing the He. At launch it is filled with He (at STP) to 15% capacity. The launch takes place in the Antarctic, in...
  26. M

    Electrical properties of Superfluid helium

    I know there is a connection with the thermal conductive properties of a material and the electrical conductive properties, so I'm curious as to the electrical conductivity of superfluid helium (below the lambda point).
  27. C

    Is liquid helium composed of both ortho and para-helium?

    In a batch of liquid helium (say < 8* K.) is there a mixture of both ortho and para-helium, or is it only ground state para-helium.? I was under the impression that ortho was a meta-stable state which cannot decay to ground state Para-helium by radiative emission, but by meta-stable we are...
  28. J

    Calculating Volume of Helium Balloon at Different Temperatures

    Question from my homework. I'm not exactly sure what I am doing wrong, and it is bugging me. I hope this post is in the right forum. Imagine that 9.9 g of liquid helium, initially at 4.20 K, evaporate into an empty balloon that is kept at 1.00-atm pressure. What is the volume of the balloon at...
  29. P

    Calculating Vol of Helium to Lift 400kg Payload to 8000m

    Homework Statement How many cubic meters of helium are required to lift a balloon with 400kg payload to a height of 8000m where the density of air is 0.460kg/m^3 and the density of helium is 0.180kg/m^3. Assume that the balloon maintains a constant volume. Homework Equations \rho = M/V...
  30. L

    Why Is Helium Safe to Inhale but Alpha Particles Are Harmful?

    Why is it safe to suck the helium out of a balloon, but it is dangerous to ingest alpha particles? I guess the main question is what is the difference between an alpha particle and a helium atom? Aren't they both written as \stackrel{4}{2}He?
  31. M

    Number of balloons filled from a tank of helium

    Homework Statement How many 3L balloons can you fill from a 20L tank of helium at a pressure of 14.4atm. Homework Equations Boyle's Law: P_{1}V_{1}=P_{2}V_{2} The Attempt at a Solution \frac{14.4atm\times20L}{1atm}=V_{2} I then divided the answer to thank by 3 to get the amount...
  32. T

    How Do Helium Leak Detectors Work?

    I am trying to figure out how Helium Leak Detectors work. If a leak detector is pumping on an enclosure that is at a low pressure, the detector will detect helium leaking into the system instantly as far as my human senses can tell. The helium will propagate 4 meters in a time so small I can't...
  33. Jon Richfield

    How to calculate Helium lensing

    Forgive what might strike you as an excessively elementary question, as well as irrelevant, but... Well, at least I guarantee that it is not any classroom project! Imagine a mass of pretty clean helium (yeah, *I* know, but this is an academic exercise! :smile: It gets worse; read on!)...
  34. B

    Newtons from Bouyancy underwater comparing helium, oxygen, and hydrogen

    I have an under water application where I need the maximum amount of buoyancy with a limit to the volume i can use for a lifting device. My question is how much more Newtons would be exerted for helium instead of oxygen, or hydrogen instead of oxygen underwater? What is the percentage...
  35. N

    Could Hydrogen and Helium Be the Key to Dark Matter and Dark Energy?

    matter in The universe is thought to be made up of 75 percent hydrogen and helium is thought to make up 25 percent of helium; Dark matter is thought to make up 25 percent of the universe and 75 percent dark energy; that's an interesting coincidence. , and currently physicists are not certain...
  36. T

    What is the degrees of freedom of helium gas ?

    what is the degrees of freedom of helium gas ? shouldn't helium gas be diatomic ? If so , it will be 5 . i have problems differentiating monoatomic and diatomic . Though its obvious that mono is one atom and diatomic is 2 atoms . Is it possible to know whether its mono or diatomic from...
  37. K

    Why Is Helium Important in the History of Star Formation?

    Why do we need helium for star formation?
  38. C

    Is There a Calculation Error in Wikipedia's Helium Atom Energy Formula?

    The Wikipedia article on the Helium Atom goes through the Thomas-Fermi approximation and shows that when you use a screening parameter Z you can optimize the energy of the atom according to the following formula: \langle H \rangle = [-2Z^2 + \frac{27}{4}Z]E_1 (E_1 is elsewhere defined as the...
  39. A

    Neutron collides elastically with a helium nucleus

    "neutron collides elastically with a helium nucleus" Homework Statement A neutron collides elastically with a helium nucleus (at rest initially) whose mass is four times that of the neutron. The helium nucleus is observed to rebound at an angle θ'2 = 40° from the neutron's initial...
  40. S

    How is superfluidity in liquid helium explained by quantum mechanics?

    So I was checking out some cool videos on youtube of helium in superfluid state and I have a question about it. How exactly does this superfluid have both zero and non-zero viscosity at the same time? The evidence seems pretty clear that it exhibits zero viscosity since it forms a Rollin...
  41. FeDeX_LaTeX

    Helium consists of 2 protons, 2 neutrons, and 2 electrons

    An element of helium consists of 2 protons, 2 neutrons, and 2 electrons. I have been told that anti-helium can exist if instead of 2 protons there are 2 antiprotons, instead of 2 neutrons there are 2 antineutrons, and instead of the 2 electrons there are 2 positrons. Is this true? Also...
  42. G

    Helium balloon centrifugal force

    Helium balloon "centrifugal" force Homework Statement Assume that you are driving down a straight road at a constant speed. A helium-filled balloon is tied to a string that is pinned to the front seat. Which way will the balloon swing when you apply the brakes? Explain why. Homework...
  43. C

    Helium 4 & Photon: Seeping & Propagation

    When helium 4 is a super fluid can it seep through a glass container , I know it can crawl out of the glass due to the van der walls interaction . But I’ve got mixed answers about the seeping through the glass . And does a photon propagate through space in a similar way an electron wave...
  44. C

    Why doesn't Hydrogen have the same wave functions as Helium

    We know that Helium can have basically the same solution as the Hydrogen atom if there is only one electron. You get the same equation with a different factor on the potential and the basic solution is the same as the Hydrogen atom. But I'm trying to figure out why it can't work the other way...
  45. H

    Megasuns containing helium and hydrogen that were huge

    I know that in early time, in the first few billion years, there were stars containing helium and hydrogen that were huge. These were called Megasuns. Can someone tell me if these were the origin of SuperMassive Black holes. Thank You Harry
  46. S

    Can a Helium Balloon Levitate Without Touching the Ceiling?

    I wonder if it is possible to make a helium ballloon to Levitate in the air without touching the ceiling? Something like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kI-_MhnyzE" Thanks,
  47. K

    The radius of an electron orbit in helium

    can someone explain how bohr used the mass of the nucleus in helium to develop a ratio of 4.0016 of the original rydberg constant for hydrogen? I can't seem to find the proof anywhere, I read vaguely that he found this value by calculating the increased charge in the nucleus and using the mass...
  48. S

    Modelling helium in the joule kelvin expansion

    How is it best to model Helium gas, Ideal gas equation? Dieterici? Van der Waals? some other equation? Also if it is dieterici or van der waals,what the values of a and b, the constants in the equation of state.
  49. P

    Helium balloon floating at air/helium boundary

    While reviewing the Archimedes Principle with my AP students using ConcepTest questions from the Wilson, Buffa, Lou text I came across an answer that I believe is incorrect. The question was the second question in a series of questions about a helium filled balloon. The first question asked...
  50. U

    Helium Gas: Pressure, root-mean-square velocity, and more

    Homework Statement A rigid, thermally insulated container with a volume of 22.4 liters is filled with one mole of helium gas (4 grams per mole( at a temperature of 0 Cesius (273K). The container is sitting in a room, surrounded by air at standard temperature and pressure (STP:1atm, 0...
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