Helium

Helium, ₀₀He

Helium
Pronunciation	/ˈhiːliəm/ ​(HEE-lee-əm)
Appearance	colorless gas, exhibiting a red-orange glow when placed in an electric field
Standard atomic weight Ar°(He)
	4.002602(2)[1]
Helium in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson – ↑ He ↓ Ne hydrogen ← helium → lithium
Group	group 18 (noble gases)
Period	period 1
Block	s-block
Electron configuration	1s2
Electrons per shell	2
Physical properties
Phase at STP	gas
Melting point	0.95 K ​(−272.20 °C, ​−457.96 °F) (at 2.5 MPa)
Boiling point	4.222 K ​(−268.928 °C, ​−452.070 °F)
Density (at STP)	0.1786 g/L
when liquid (at m.p.)	0.145 g/cm3
when liquid (at b.p.)	0.125 g/cm3
Triple point	2.177 K, ​5.043 kPa
Critical point	5.1953 K, 0.22746 MPa
Heat of fusion	0.0138 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporization	0.0829 kJ/mol
Molar heat capacity	20.78 J/(mol·K)[2]
Vapor pressure (defined by ITS-90) P (Pa) 1 10 100 1 k 10 k 100 k at T (K)     1.23 1.67 2.48 4.21
Atomic properties
Oxidation states	0
Electronegativity	Pauling scale: no data
Ionization energies	1st: 2372.3 kJ/mol 2nd: 5250.5 kJ/mol
Covalent radius	28 pm
Van der Waals radius	140 pm
Spectral lines of helium
Other properties
Natural occurrence	primordial
Crystal structure	​hexagonal close-packed (hcp)
Speed of sound	972 m/s
Thermal conductivity	0.1513 W/(m⋅K)
Magnetic ordering	diamagnetic[3]
Molar magnetic susceptibility	−1.88·10−6 cm3/mol (298 K)[4]
CAS Number	7440-59-7
History
Naming	after Helios, Greek Titan of the Sun
Discovery	Pierre Janssen, Norman Lockyer (1868)
First isolation	William Ramsay, Per Teodor Cleve, Abraham Langlet (1895)
Isotopes of helium v e
Main isotopes[5] Decay abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct 3He 0.0002% Preview warning: Infobox He isotopes: Abundance percentage not recognised "na=0.0002%" cat#% stable 4He 99.9998% Preview warning: Infobox He isotopes: Abundance percentage not recognised "na=99.9998%" cat#% stable
Category: Helium view talk edit | references

Helium is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol He, atomic number 2, and atomic weight of about 4.002602. There are 9 isotopes of helium, only two of which are stable. These are ³He and ⁴He. ⁴He is by far the most common isotope.

Helium is called a noble gas, because it does not regularly mix with other chemicals and form new compounds. It has the lowest boiling point of all the elements. It is the second most common element in the universe, after hydrogen, and has no color or smell. However, helium has a red-orange glow when placed in an electric field. Helium does not usually react with anything else. Astronomers detected the presence of helium in 1868, when its spectrum was identified in light from the Sun.^[6] This was before its discovery on Earth.

Helium is used to fill balloons and airships because its density is lighter than air. It does not burn, so is safe for that kind of use. It is also used in some kinds of light bulbs. People can breathe in helium: It makes their voices sound higher than it normally does. This may seem silly, but it can actually be quite dangerous as if they breathe in too much, hypoxia can injure or kill them as they are not breathing normal air. Breathing too much helium can also cause long-term effects to vocal cords.

Helium is created through the process of nuclear fusion in the Sun, and in similar stars. During this process, four hydrogen atoms are fused together to form one helium atom. On Earth it is made by the natural radioactive decay of heavy radioactive elements like thorium and uranium, although there are other examples. The alpha particles emitted by such decays consist of helium-4 nuclei.

1. ↑ "Standard Atomic Weights: Helium". CIAAW. 1983.
2. ↑ Shuen-Chen Hwang, Robert D. Lein, Daniel A. Morgan (2005). "Noble Gases". Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. Wiley. pp. 343–383. doi:10.1002/0471238961.0701190508230114.a01.
3. ↑ Magnetic susceptibility of the elements and inorganic compounds, in Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 81st edition, CRC press.
4. ↑ Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. pp. E110. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.
5. ↑ Kondev, F. G.; Wang, M.; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S.; Audi, G. (2021). "The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear properties" (PDF). Chinese Physics C. 45 (3): 030001. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/abddae.
6. ↑ Based on this location, its name was derived from the Greek word for Sun, helios.