[TheForge] dry liquid nitrogen vs air compressor & liquid oxygen vs oxygen cylinders

[theforge@mailman.qth.net]

RIES NIEMI wrote:

> Initially blimps were filled with helium from some kind of underground
>helium deposits in texas somewhere? or maybe the government just pumped the
>helium into caves for storage, Im not sure. 
>
Amarillo  Texas -- about their only claim to fame (other than the local 
rancher who decided to bury a new cadillac nosedown in the dirt every 
year since the fifties)  is the largest helium deposits anywhere.   
Ninety percent of the worlds helium comes from Amarillo, supplies of 
which are finite and irreplaceable.    We vent 3.2 BCF  to the 
atmosphere each year, which is lost forever.  Extracting helium from the 
atmosphere is pretty expensive.  The government did start buying and 
storing helium near Amarillo in the seventies in an attempt to conserve 
it.  That program is pretty much at an end now.