The Zeppelin company originally preferred the cheaper and more readily obtainable hydrogen, but after 48 of 56 passengers on a British airship were killed in a storm in 1930, Zeppelin’s engineers planned the new design for the safer, nonflammable helium. Unfortunately for Zeppelin, Congress had passed a law in 1927 banning the export of helium because it was a strategic gas with military aviation potential. There was thus no alternative to hydrogen, despite its risks. (Interestingly, the United States lifted the ban on helium after the Hindenburg disaster, although it was reinstated in 1938 after Nazi Germany annexed Austria.)
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And there is more to Helium story. Helium is a gas of
limited availability. It is a by product in oil refining.
There is no helium available otherwise. And once it
has been dispersed to atmosphere, it is gone forever.
And it has other uses which make it important to have.
Ed K
The sailing party was hopelessly lost on the ocean. The
sun was going down and the waves were starting to
build when one of the sailors growled, ” I thought you
said you were one of the best damn sailors in California.”
” Oh I am,” replied the captain firmly, ” but I’m pretty
sure were in Mexico by now.”
Report ed K