Helium Has a Lifting Force

Helium (symbol He) is the second-lightest element after hydrogen.

British spelling

Looking at my grandchild’s helium balloons made me wonder: how many standard helium party balloons would I need to lift me off the ground?

A little research was needed, and this is what I found out.

Helium has a lifting force of about one gram per liter; an average-sized party balloon holds approximately 14 liters of helium.

I weigh 80 kilograms or 176 pounds; therefore, I would need 80,000 liters of helium to lift me off the ground, which works out to 5,714 standard helium balloons.

Helium is non-flammable, so it is safe to use in party balloons.

But helium should never be inhaled. The funny voice can be amusing, but it can lead to hypoxia (the lack of oxygen).

Why does the Earth not fall into the Sun?

The Earth is roughly 150 million kilometres from the Sun and stays at that distance, but why?

You would think that the gravitational force of the sun would pull the Earth closer, but no. Hypothetically, if the Earth moved closer to the Sun, its orbital speed would increase.

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and therefore has the fastest orbital speed of all the planets.

The Earth is racing around the Sun at 107,000 kilometres per hour and always falling towards the Sun, but the sideways momentum keeps it at a safe distance.

The Earth is orbiting in the vacuum of space, so there is nothing to slow it down.

Imagine if the Earth came to a complete stop in its orbit; it would immediately start on its death dive toward the Sun. That journey would take roughly 2 months. But don’t worry, it can’t happen!

God or evolution? What are your thoughts?

Will we ever get a true answer to that profound question?

Our amazing world is teeming with millions of species of plants and animals, but why?

I am certainly not an expert on the Bible, but when it was written, it said that God created the universe and the earth in 6 days, and they are roughly 6,000 years old.

Could a day mentioned in the Bible be longer than the 24-hour period that we are so accustomed to?

Scientists tell us that the universe burst into existence 13.8 billion years ago and that the Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old.

It is estimated that primitive life forms have been living on our planet for well over 3.5 billion years. Is evolution the reason, or is God the reason for all the complex life we see all over the world?

Are we alone in the universe?

That question is often asked.

But unfortunately, it’s not a question that can be answered at this time.

The universe is thought to hold two trillion galaxies, some will hold millions and others billions of star systems. With recent research, we can now be confident that most stars will have orbiting planets.

We can only imagine the staggering number of planets there must be out there in the unknown.

Surely our planet Earth cannot be the only one to harbour life. But what about intelligent life? Although highly unlikely, the answer could be no.

Due to the vast distances involved, we might never know for sure if we are indeed alone in the universe.

Not getting a definite answer can be frustrating for many people.

We may never know the answer to that very important question.

End of article.