(November 9, 2014 at 3:17 pm)Chuck Wrote:(November 9, 2014 at 1:30 pm)zebo-the-fat Wrote: Helium is an expensive way to execute someone, why not use nitrogen, much cheaper. I saw a film where they had volunteers in a chamber with oxygen masks on, some had the oxygen reduced and replaced with nitrogen... they didn't notice, just went to sleep. A low cost and painless way to kill someone if that's what you really need to do.Helium gas must be extracted as a mining and drilling byproduct. Available mines that produced helium in useful quantities have mostly been exhausted. There are a lot of practical uses for helium and a very finite total inventoy without realistic prospect of serious replenishment in the near future. What is available shouldn't be wasted.
I hear that a significant amount of the world's stick of helium is going to be used to cool ITER's superconducting coils... but it's ok, ITER will generate helium as a byproduct of fusion.
