This and another report I can't find again (saying helium might be restricted to research and industrial use) is a worry...

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rc...6fauZB8ogSsGHQ

thoughts?

Lets use Hydrogen instead....

Originally Posted by Guga

Lets use Hydrogen instead....

hehe... and a micro fusion reactor to power it, making helium as a byproduct too

Originally Posted by omnivorr

This and another report I can't find again (saying helium might be restricted to research and industrial use) is a worry...

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rc...6fauZB8ogSsGHQ

thoughts?

Are you kidding me? Every party store in town fills hundreds of party balloons a day with no worry.

Yeah, that's why I asked. I read a news report saying it would be restricted in future.. so later in an idle moment I Googled to see what else might corroborate that story..

It seems tho' that it's something that comes up every few years like "doomsday" stories do.

Originally Posted by Guga

Lets use Hydrogen instead....

or hot air!

Seems to be a reality for me. I can't get helium anywhere. I'm located in northern Wisconsin and every party supply store within a 100 miles or so won't(says they can't or can't get any) sell any/rent a tank out. A lot don't even have a tank for themselves, but they'll sell you a tiny disposable tank for the low low price of $50 I've also contacted welding supply stores and I can't get any from them either. Can you really get some if it's for research? I think my project would qualify, but I'm not sure who to contact.

Helium should be restricted from party balloons, as that is a huge waste of an irreplaceable natural resource that is running out. Using mass quantities of a scientifically valuable noble gas that can not be produced by any means on party favors is foolish, especially when hydrogen (which CAN be produced) does the job just fine. A cubic foot of hydrogen in a rubber balloon wouldn't do squat if it caught fire. I've lit plenty of them and all you get is a poof with a brief low temperature fireball. The reason hydrogen isn't used for welding is because it can't even produce a high enough temperature when it burns. The world needs to get over it's unfounded Hindenburg phobia of hydrogen and stop wasting valuable helium on party balloons.

Originally Posted by powerblimp

or hot air!

Trust me, you don't want to go there. Gas blimps outperform hot air blimps by an order of magnitude. Hot air blimps are extremely difficult to fly, very expensive to make, have a lot more mass and are thus very sluggish to maneuver, must be excessively large, flight duration is very short before fuel runs out and indoor use would be a big fire hazard. Hydrogen is the answer for unmanned RC blimps, at least until we can finally get fusion reactors working and produce our own helium. The problem is finding the hydrogen though, since it doesn't have any common commercial use. It is pretty easy to make your own, but it is difficult to keep it from getting tainted with oxygen in the process, which is what makes it explosive. If it becomes the replacement for helium in party balloons then it would become widely available, and it would cost a lot less than the helium.