How Helium Was Discovered

Helium is an extremely abundant element in our universe, as it comprises around twenty-five percent of all its matter.

Yet here on Earth, it is quite a rare element.

You see, helium is an extremely light element, the second lightest to only hydrogen, so it has a tendency to rise up the atmosphere and eventually escape the Earth into outer space.

But you might be wondering why helium has this tendency while hydrogen remains abundant on Earth despite being even lighter than helium.

The reason for this is because helium is an inert gas and doesn't tend to chemically bond with other elements.

For this reason, hydrogen gets trapped on Earth through means of chemical bonds, while helium, over time, gets lost in space.

Since helium is so rare on Earth, the main way to obtain it is through radioactive decay, specifically alpha decay, where a helium nucleus is emitted from a heavier element's nucleus as it transforms into another lighter element.

These characteristics led to helium being an element well-hidden from scientific exercises for quite a long time.

And of the lighter elements on the periodic table, it was not discovered until nearly a century after most of its light counterparts.

Helium is an extremely abundant element in our universe, as it comprises around twenty-five percent of all its matter.

Yet here on Earth, it is quite a rare element.

You see, helium is an extremely light element, the second lightest to only hydrogen, so it has a tendency to rise up the atmosphere and eventually escape the Earth into outer space.

But you might be wondering why helium has this tendency while hydrogen remains abundant on Earth despite being even lighter than helium.

The reason for this is because helium is an inert gas and doesn't tend to chemically bond with other elements.

For this reason, hydrogen gets trapped on Earth through means of chemical bonds, while helium, over time, gets lost in space.

Since helium is so rare on Earth, the main way to obtain it is through radioactive decay, specifically alpha decay, where a helium nucleus is emitted from a heavier element's nucleus as it transforms into another lighter element.

These characteristics led to helium being an element well-hidden from scientific exercises for quite a long time.

And of the lighter elements on the periodic table, it was not discovered until nearly a century after most of its light counterparts.