There’s a shortage of everything else, so why not an element off the periodic chart. There’s another helium shortage. Because of that, no balloons at Husker games again this coming season.
I’m guessing somewhere, people have 20 years’ worth of helium in their basement right next to 500 rolls of toilet paper. Thanks helium hoarders.
Maybe not. Trev Alberts released a statement, “While we’re still concerned about the environmental impact of the balloons, the reality is acquiring helium in today’s day and age and some of the production of it is really challenged,” Alberts said. “The helium that we are getting as a University we need to use for medical purposes.”
Helium is the 2nd most abundant element I the universe, but not so much on Earth. And we can’t make more. We have to wait for uranium to decay. Fun fact, if it escapes from the ground before we can capture it, it’s light enough to escape gravity on Earth and float out into space. Nothing else does that.