So, I was on this quest, right? A quest to find Helium. Not the party balloon kind, but the element, the stuff that’s supposedly all over the universe but kinda hard to get your hands on here on Earth.
Digging for Info
First, I hit up the internet, my trusty friend. I mean, where else do you start? I typed in “where to find helium” and scrolled through a bunch of search results. Some were talking about party stores, which, yeah, not what I was after. Others got a bit more scientific, mentioning natural gas wells and stuff.
I learned that most of the helium we use comes from natural gas deposits. Apparently, it’s trapped underground along with the natural gas, and they separate it out during processing. Cool, cool, but that didn’t exactly tell me where I could find it, you know?
The Practical Approach
I decided I needed to get more specific. So, I started looking for places that might sell helium, beyond the party supply places. I figured industrial gas suppliers were a good bet.
- I made a list of local industrial gas suppliers.
- I called them up, one by one. I’m not gonna lie, it felt a little weird asking about helium.
- Most of them said they sold helium, but mostly in large quantities to businesses, not to some random dude for… well, I didn’t really tell them what I wanted it for.
- Some sell helium to the public for filling weather balloons and such.
Bingo! One supplier. It’s used for all sorts of things, from scientific research to, yeah, filling balloons. It’s just not the kind of thing you pick up at the grocery store.