124-539: [REDACTED] This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Fredonia Gas Light Company" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( July 2007 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) The Fredonia Gas Light Company , founded in 1858,
248-545: A nuclear halo . Table of thermal and physical properties of helium gas at atmospheric pressure: Helium has a valence of zero and is chemically unreactive under all normal conditions. It is an electrical insulator unless ionized . As with the other noble gases, helium has metastable energy levels that allow it to remain ionized in an electrical discharge with a voltage below its ionization potential . Helium can form unstable compounds , known as excimers , with tungsten, iodine, fluorine, sulfur, and phosphorus when it
372-441: A superfluid phase, but only at much lower temperatures; as a result, less is known about the properties of the isotope. Helium II is a superfluid, a quantum mechanical state of matter with strange properties. For example, when it flows through capillaries as thin as 10 to 100 nm it has no measurable viscosity . However, when measurements were done between two moving discs, a viscosity comparable to that of gaseous helium
496-481: A density 0.5539 times that of air (0.678 kg per standard cubic meter). In the early 1800s, natural gas became known as "natural" to distinguish it from the dominant gas fuel at the time, coal gas . Unlike coal gas, which is manufactured by heating coal, natural gas can be extracted from the ground in its native gaseous form. When the use of natural gas overtook the use of coal gas in English speaking countries in
620-421: A few millikelvins. It is possible to produce exotic helium isotopes , which rapidly decay into other substances. The shortest-lived heavy helium isotope is the unbound helium-10 with a half-life of 2.6(4) × 10 s . Helium-6 decays by emitting a beta particle and has a half-life of 0.8 second. Helium-7 and helium-8 are created in certain nuclear reactions . Helium-6 and helium-8 are known to exhibit
744-524: A gas-like index of refraction of 1.026 which makes its surface so hard to see that floats of Styrofoam are often used to show where the surface is. This colorless liquid has a very low viscosity and a density of 0.145–0.125 g/mL (between about 0 and 4 K), which is only one-fourth the value expected from classical physics . Quantum mechanics is needed to explain this property and thus both states of liquid helium (helium I and helium II) are called quantum fluids , meaning they display atomic properties on
868-472: A helium-oxygen bond could be stable. Two new molecular species, predicted using theory, CsFHeO and N(CH 3 ) 4 FHeO, are derivatives of a metastable FHeO anion first theorized in 2005 by a group from Taiwan. Helium atoms have been inserted into the hollow carbon cage molecules (the fullerenes ) by heating under high pressure. The endohedral fullerene molecules formed are stable at high temperatures. When chemical derivatives of these fullerenes are formed,
992-410: A lower boiling point, can achieve about 0.2 kelvin in a helium-3 refrigerator . Equal mixtures of liquid He and He below 0.8 K separate into two immiscible phases due to their dissimilarity (they follow different quantum statistics : helium-4 atoms are bosons while helium-3 atoms are fermions ). Dilution refrigerators use this immiscibility to achieve temperatures of
1116-434: A macroscopic scale. This may be an effect of its boiling point being so close to absolute zero, preventing random molecular motion ( thermal energy ) from masking the atomic properties. Liquid helium below its lambda point (called helium II ) exhibits very unusual characteristics. Due to its high thermal conductivity , when it boils, it does not bubble but rather evaporates directly from its surface. Helium-3 also has
1240-484: A major source of natural gas in the United States and Canada. Because of increased shale gas production the United States was in 2014 the number one natural gas producer in the world. The production of shale gas in the United States has been described as a "shale gas revolution" and as "one of the landmark events in the 21st century." Following the increased production in the United States, shale gas exploration
1364-459: A negative Joule–Thomson coefficient at normal ambient temperatures, meaning it heats up when allowed to freely expand. Only below its Joule–Thomson inversion temperature (of about 32 to 50 K at 1 atmosphere) does it cool upon free expansion. Once precooled below this temperature, helium can be liquefied through expansion cooling. Most extraterrestrial helium is plasma in stars, with properties quite different from those of atomic helium. In
SECTION 10
#17327725262431488-427: A new form of hydrogen with half-integer transition levels. In 1912, Alfred Fowler managed to produce similar lines from a hydrogen-helium mixture, and supported Pickering's conclusion as to their origin. Bohr's model does not allow for half-integer transitions (nor does quantum mechanics) and Bohr concluded that Pickering and Fowler were wrong, and instead assigned these spectral lines to ionised helium, He . Fowler
1612-516: A phenomenon now called superfluidity . This phenomenon is related to Bose–Einstein condensation . In 1972, the same phenomenon was observed in helium-3 , but at temperatures much closer to absolute zero, by American physicists Douglas D. Osheroff , David M. Lee , and Robert C. Richardson . The phenomenon in helium-3 is thought to be related to pairing of helium-3 fermions to make bosons , in analogy to Cooper pairs of electrons producing superconductivity . In 1961, Vignos and Fairbank reported
1736-595: A plasma, helium's electrons are not bound to its nucleus, resulting in very high electrical conductivity, even when the gas is only partially ionized. The charged particles are highly influenced by magnetic and electric fields. For example, in the solar wind together with ionized hydrogen, the particles interact with the Earth's magnetosphere , giving rise to Birkeland currents and the aurora . Helium liquifies when cooled below 4.2 K at atmospheric pressure. Unlike any other element, however, helium remains liquid down to
1860-441: A pressurizing and purge gas, as a protective atmosphere for arc welding , and in processes such as growing crystals to make silicon wafers —account for half of the gas produced. A small but well-known use is as a lifting gas in balloons and airships . As with any gas whose density differs from that of air, inhaling a small volume of helium temporarily changes the timbre and quality of the human voice . In scientific research,
1984-430: A rate three times that of air and around 65% that of hydrogen. Helium is the least water- soluble monatomic gas, and one of the least water-soluble of any gas ( CF 4 , SF 6 , and C 4 F 8 have lower mole fraction solubilities: 0.3802, 0.4394, and 0.2372 x 2 /10 , respectively, versus helium's 0.70797 x 2 /10 ), and helium's index of refraction is closer to unity than that of any other gas. Helium has
2108-478: A reconsideration of the Pickering–Fowler series as central evidence in support of his model of the atom . This series is named for Edward Charles Pickering , who in 1896 published observations of previously unknown lines in the spectrum of the star ζ Puppis (these are now known to occur with Wolf–Rayet and other hot stars). Pickering attributed the observation (lines at 4551, 5411, and 10123 Å ) to
2232-445: A result of this creeping behavior and helium II's ability to leak rapidly through tiny openings, it is very difficult to confine. Unless the container is carefully constructed, the helium II will creep along the surfaces and through valves until it reaches somewhere warmer, where it will evaporate. Waves propagating across a Rollin film are governed by the same equation as gravity waves in shallow water, but rather than gravity,
2356-463: A surface extends past the level of helium II, the helium II moves along the surface, against the force of gravity . Helium II will escape from a vessel that is not sealed by creeping along the sides until it reaches a warmer region where it evaporates. It moves in a 30 nm-thick film regardless of surface material. This film is called a Rollin film and is named after the man who first characterized this trait, Bernard V. Rollin . As
2480-542: A synthetic crude that can be further refined into finished products, while MTG can produce synthetic gasoline from natural gas. STG+ can produce drop-in gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and aromatic chemicals directly from natural gas via a single-loop process. In 2011, Royal Dutch Shell's 140,000 barrels (22,000 m ) per day F–T plant went into operation in Qatar . Natural gas can be "associated" (found in oil fields ), or "non-associated" (isolated in natural gas fields ), and
2604-449: A temperature of absolute zero . This is a direct effect of quantum mechanics: specifically, the zero point energy of the system is too high to allow freezing. Pressures above about 25 atmospheres are required to freeze it. There are two liquid phases: Helium I is a conventional liquid, and Helium II, which occurs at a lower temperature, is a superfluid . Below its boiling point of 4.22 K (−268.93 °C; −452.07 °F) and above
SECTION 20
#17327725262432728-464: A γ phase, which is body-centered cubic (bcc). There are nine known isotopes of helium of which two, helium-3 and helium-4 , are stable . In the Earth's atmosphere, one atom is He for every million that are He . Unlike most elements, helium's isotopic abundance varies greatly by origin, due to the different formation processes. The most common isotope, helium-4, is produced on Earth by alpha decay of heavier radioactive elements;
2852-403: Is 0.187 ± 0.009 g/cm . At higher temperatures, helium will solidify with sufficient pressure. At room temperature, this requires about 114,000 atm. Helium-4 and helium-3 both form several crystalline solid phases, all requiring at least 25 bar. They both form an α phase, which has a hexagonal close-packed (hcp) crystal structure, a β phase, which is face-centered cubic (fcc), and
2976-434: Is a chemical element ; it has symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert , monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table . Its boiling point is the lowest among all the elements , and it does not have a melting point at standard pressures. It is the second-lightest and second most abundant element in the observable universe , after hydrogen . It
3100-493: Is a flammable gaseous fuel made by the destructive distillation of coal . It contains a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen , carbon monoxide , methane , and other volatile hydrocarbons , together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen , and was used in a similar way to natural gas. This is a historical technology and is not usually economically competitive with other sources of fuel gas today. Most town "gashouses" located in
3224-407: Is a non-renewable resource because once released into the atmosphere, it promptly escapes into space . Its supply is thought to be rapidly diminishing. However, some studies suggest that helium produced deep in the Earth by radioactive decay can collect in natural gas reserves in larger-than-expected quantities, in some cases having been released by volcanic activity. The first evidence of helium
3348-458: Is a schematic block flow diagram of a typical natural gas processing plant. It shows the various unit processes used to convert raw natural gas into sales gas pipelined to the end user markets. The block flow diagram also shows how processing of the raw natural gas yields byproduct sulfur, byproduct ethane, and natural gas liquids (NGL) propane, butanes and natural gasoline (denoted as pentanes +). As of mid-2020, natural gas production in
3472-399: Is also found in coal beds (as coalbed methane ). It sometimes contains a significant amount of ethane , propane , butane , and pentane —heavier hydrocarbons removed for commercial use prior to the methane being sold as a consumer fuel or chemical plant feedstock. Non-hydrocarbons such as carbon dioxide , nitrogen , helium (rarely), and hydrogen sulfide must also be removed before
3596-628: Is beginning in countries such as Poland, China, and South Africa. Chinese geologists have identified the Sichuan Basin as a promising target for shale gas drilling, because of the similarity of shales to those that have proven productive in the United States. Production from the Wei-201 well is between 10,000 and 20,000 m per day. In late 2020, China National Petroleum Corporation claimed daily production of 20 million cubic meters of gas from its Changning-Weiyuan demonstration zone. Town gas
3720-556: Is colorless and odorless, and the second largest greenhouse gas contributor to global climate change after carbon dioxide. Because natural gas is odorless, odorizers such as mercaptan (which smells like rotten eggs ) are commonly added to it for safety so that leaks can be readily detected. Natural gas is a fossil fuel that is formed when layers of organic matter (primarily marine microorganisms) decompose under anaerobic conditions and are subjected to intense heat and pressure underground over millions of years. The energy that
3844-399: Is constructed which is connected to a reservoir of helium II by a sintered disc through which superfluid helium leaks easily but through which non-superfluid helium cannot pass. If the interior of the container is heated, the superfluid helium changes to non-superfluid helium. In order to maintain the equilibrium fraction of superfluid helium, superfluid helium leaks through and increases
Fredonia Gas Light Company - Misplaced Pages Continue
3968-447: Is created by the natural radioactive decay of heavy radioactive elements ( thorium and uranium , although there are other examples), as the alpha particles emitted by such decays consist of helium-4 nuclei . This radiogenic helium is trapped with natural gas in concentrations as great as 7% by volume, from which it is extracted commercially by a low-temperature separation process called fractional distillation . Terrestrial helium
4092-537: Is estimated to have 51,000 cubic kilometers (12,000 cu mi) of natural gas and 50 billion barrels (7.9 billion cubic meters) of natural gas condensates . Because natural gas is not a pure product, as the reservoir pressure drops when non-associated gas is extracted from a field under supercritical (pressure/temperature) conditions, the higher molecular weight components may partially condense upon isothermic depressurizing—an effect called retrograde condensation . The liquid thus formed may get trapped as
4216-694: Is heated and compressed deep underground. Methanogenic organisms produce methane from a variety of sources, principally carbon dioxide. During petroleum production, natural gas is sometimes flared rather than being collected and used. Before natural gas can be burned as a fuel or used in manufacturing processes, it almost always has to be processed to remove impurities such as water. The byproducts of this processing include ethane , propane , butanes , pentanes , and higher molecular weight hydrocarbons. Hydrogen sulfide (which may be converted into pure sulfur ), carbon dioxide , water vapor , and sometimes helium and nitrogen must also be removed. Natural gas
4340-403: Is natural gas produced from shale . Because shale's matrix permeability is too low to allow gas to flow in economical quantities, shale gas wells depend on fractures to allow the gas to flow. Early shale gas wells depended on natural fractures through which gas flowed; almost all shale gas wells today require fractures artificially created by hydraulic fracturing . Since 2000, shale gas has become
4464-413: Is no exception. Thus, numerical mathematical methods are required, even to solve the system of one nucleus and two electrons. Such computational chemistry methods have been used to create a quantum mechanical picture of helium electron binding which is accurate to within < 2% of the correct value, in a few computational steps. Such models show that each electron in helium partly screens the nucleus from
4588-519: Is often jointly credited with detecting the element, along with Norman Lockyer . Janssen recorded the helium spectral line during the solar eclipse of 1868, while Lockyer observed it from Britain. However, only Lockyer proposed that the line was due to a new element, which he named after the Sun. The formal discovery of the element was made in 1895 by chemists Sir William Ramsay , Per Teodor Cleve , and Nils Abraham Langlet , who found helium emanating from
4712-406: Is often stored underground [references about geological storage needed]inside depleted gas reservoirs from previous gas wells, salt domes , or in tanks as liquefied natural gas. The gas is injected in a time of low demand and extracted when demand picks up. Storage nearby end users helps to meet volatile demands, but such storage may not always be practicable. With 15 countries accounting for 84% of
4836-452: Is preparing to export natural gas. Floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) is an innovative technology designed to enable the development of offshore gas resources that would otherwise remain untapped due to environmental or economic factors which currently make them impractical to develop via a land-based LNG operation. FLNG technology also provides a number of environmental and economic advantages: Many gas and oil companies are considering
4960-530: Is present at about 24% of the total elemental mass, which is more than 12 times the mass of all the heavier elements combined. Its abundance is similar to this in both the Sun and Jupiter , because of the very high nuclear binding energy (per nucleon ) of helium-4 , with respect to the next three elements after helium. This helium-4 binding energy also accounts for why it is a product of both nuclear fusion and radioactive decay . The most common isotope of helium in
5084-548: Is primarily dependent on proximity to markets (pipelines), and regulatory restrictions. Natural gas can be indirectly exported through the absorption in other physical output. The expansion of shale gas production in the US has caused prices to drop relative to other countries. This has caused a boom in energy intensive manufacturing sector exports, whereby the average dollar unit of US manufacturing exports has almost tripled its energy content between 1996 and 2012. A "master gas system"
Fredonia Gas Light Company - Misplaced Pages Continue
5208-429: Is primarily used in the northern hemisphere. North America and Europe are major consumers. Often well head gases require removal of various hydrocarbon molecules contained within the gas. Some of these gases include heptane , pentane , propane and other hydrocarbons with molecular weights above methane ( CH 4 ). The natural gas transmission lines extend to the natural gas processing plant or unit which removes
5332-479: Is produced in fusion reactions from hydrogen, though its estimated abundance in the universe is about 10 relative to helium-4. The unusual stability of the helium-4 nucleus is also important cosmologically : it explains the fact that in the first few minutes after the Big Bang , as the "soup" of free protons and neutrons which had initially been created in about 6:1 ratio cooled to the point that nuclear binding
5456-716: Is sometimes informally referred to simply as "gas", especially when it is being compared to other energy sources, such as oil, coal or renewables. However, it is not to be confused with gasoline , which is also shortened in colloquial usage to "gas", especially in North America. Natural gas is measured in standard cubic meters or standard cubic feet . The density compared to air ranges from 0.58 (16.8 g/mole, 0.71 kg per standard cubic meter) to as high as 0.79 (22.9 g/mole, 0.97 kg per scm), but generally less than 0.64 (18.5 g/mole, 0.78 kg per scm). For comparison, pure methane (16.0425 g/mole) has
5580-520: Is subjected to a glow discharge , to electron bombardment, or reduced to plasma by other means. The molecular compounds HeNe, HgHe 10 , and WHe 2 , and the molecular ions He 2 , He 2 , HeH , and HeD have been created this way. HeH is also stable in its ground state but is extremely reactive—it is the strongest Brønsted acid known, and therefore can exist only in isolation, as it will protonate any molecule or counteranion it contacts. This technique has also produced
5704-466: Is the second least reactive noble gas after neon , and thus the second least reactive of all elements. It is chemically inert and monatomic in all standard conditions. Because of helium's relatively low molar (atomic) mass, its thermal conductivity , specific heat , and sound speed in the gas phase are all greater than any other gas except hydrogen . For these reasons and the small size of helium monatomic molecules, helium diffuses through solids at
5828-416: Is thus energetically extremely stable for all these particles and has astrophysical implications. Namely, adding another particle – proton, neutron, or alpha particle – would consume rather than release energy; all systems with mass number 5, as well as beryllium-8 (comprising two alpha particles), are unbound. For example, the stability and low energy of the electron cloud state in helium accounts for
5952-604: Is traded on a "dry gas" basis and is required to be commercially free from objectionable odours, materials, and dust or other solid or liquid matter, waxes, gums and gum forming constituents, which might damage or adversely affect operation of equipment downstream of the custody transfer point. LNG carrier ships transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) across oceans, while tank trucks can carry LNG or compressed natural gas (CNG) over shorter distances. Sea transport using CNG carrier ships that are now under development may be competitive with LNG transport in specific conditions. Gas
6076-409: Is transported at high pressure, typically above 200 bars (20,000 kPa; 2,900 psi). Compressors and decompression equipment are less capital intensive and may be economical in smaller unit sizes than liquefaction/regasification plants. Natural gas trucks and carriers may transport natural gas directly to end-users, or to distribution points such as pipelines. In the past, the natural gas which
6200-416: Is turned into liquid at a liquefaction plant, and is returned to gas form at regasification plant at the terminal . Shipborne regasification equipment is also used. LNG is the preferred form for long distance, high volume transportation of natural gas, whereas pipeline is preferred for transport for distances up to 4,000 km (2,500 mi) over land and approximately half that distance offshore. CNG
6324-402: The 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis severely affected helium production there. 2014 was widely acknowledged to be a year of over-supply in the helium business, following years of renowned shortages. Nasdaq reported (2015) that for Air Products , an international corporation that sells gases for industrial use, helium volumes remain under economic pressure due to feedstock supply constraints. In
SECTION 50
#17327725262436448-573: The Naval Aircraft Factory -built USS Shenandoah , flew in September 1923. Although the extraction process using low-temperature gas liquefaction was not developed in time to be significant during World War I, production continued. Helium was primarily used as a lifting gas in lighter-than-air craft. During World War II, the demand increased for helium for lifting gas and for shielded arc welding . The helium mass spectrometer
6572-624: The beta decay of tritium . Rocks from the Earth's crust have isotope ratios varying by as much as a factor of ten, and these ratios can be used to investigate the origin of rocks and the composition of the Earth's mantle . He is much more abundant in stars as a product of nuclear fusion. Thus in the interstellar medium , the proportion of He to He is about 100 times higher than on Earth. Extraplanetary material, such as lunar and asteroid regolith , have trace amounts of helium-3 from being bombarded by solar winds . The Moon 's surface contains helium-3 at concentrations on
6696-413: The lambda point of 2.1768 K (−270.9732 °C; −455.7518 °F), the isotope helium-4 exists in a normal colorless liquid state, called helium I . Like other cryogenic liquids, helium I boils when it is heated and contracts when its temperature is lowered. Below the lambda point, however, helium does not boil, and it expands as the temperature is lowered further. Helium I has
6820-427: The supply chain can result in natural gas having a similar carbon footprint to other fossil fuels overall. Natural gas can be found in underground geological formations , often alongside other fossil fuels like coal and oil (petroleum). Most natural gas has been created through either biogenic or thermogenic processes. Thermogenic gas takes a much longer period of time to form and is created when organic matter
6944-563: The uranium ore cleveite , which is now not regarded as a separate mineral species, but as a variety of uraninite . In 1903, large reserves of helium were found in natural gas fields in parts of the United States, by far the largest supplier of the gas today. Liquid helium is used in cryogenics (its largest single use, consuming about a quarter of production), and in the cooling of superconducting magnets , with its main commercial application in MRI scanners. Helium's other industrial uses—as
7068-548: The 19th century, natural gas was primarily obtained as a by-product of producing oil . The small, light gas carbon chains came out of solution as the extracted fluids underwent pressure reduction from the reservoir to the surface, similar to uncapping a soft drink bottle where the carbon dioxide effervesces . The gas was often viewed as a by-product, a hazard, and a disposal problem in active oil fields. The large volumes produced could not be used until relatively expensive pipeline and storage facilities were constructed to deliver
7192-406: The 20th century, it was increasingly referred to as simply "gas." In order to highlight its role in exacerbating the climate crisis , however, many organizations have criticized the continued use of the word "natural" in referring to the gas. These advocates prefer the term "fossil gas" or "methane gas" as better conveying to the public its climate threat. A 2020 study of Americans' perceptions of
7316-467: The Earth, and for carbon-based or other life) have thus been created since the Big Bang in stars which were hot enough to fuse helium itself. All elements other than hydrogen and helium today account for only 2% of the mass of atomic matter in the universe. Helium-4, by contrast, comprises about 24% of the mass of the universe's ordinary matter—nearly all the ordinary matter that is not hydrogen. Helium
7440-465: The Interior to empty the reserve, with sales starting by 2005. Helium produced between 1930 and 1945 was about 98.3% pure (2% nitrogen), which was adequate for airships. In 1945, a small amount of 99.9% helium was produced for welding use. By 1949, commercial quantities of Grade A 99.95% helium were available. For many years, the United States produced more than 90% of commercially usable helium in
7564-432: The US had peaked three times, with current levels exceeding both previous peaks. It reached 24.1 trillion cubic feet per year in 1973, followed by a decline, and reached 24.5 trillion cubic feet in 2001. After a brief drop, withdrawals increased nearly every year since 2006 (owing to the shale gas boom ), with 2017 production at 33.4 trillion cubic feet and 2019 production at 40.7 trillion cubic feet. After
SECTION 60
#17327725262437688-427: The US, over one-third of households (>40 million homes) cook with gas. Natural gas dispensed in a residential setting can generate temperatures in excess of 1,100 °C (2,000 °F) making it a powerful domestic cooking and heating fuel. Stanford scientists estimated that gas stoves emit 0.8–1.3% of the gas they use as unburned methane and that total U.S. stove emissions are 28.1 gigagrams of methane. In much of
7812-593: The United States Hidden categories: Articles needing additional references from July 2007 All articles needing additional references Natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas, methane gas , or simply gas ) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane (95%) in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes . Traces of carbon dioxide , nitrogen , hydrogen sulfide , and helium are also usually present. Methane
7936-523: The United States begins with localized use. In the seventeenth century, French missionaries witnessed the American Indians setting fire to natural gas seeps around lake Erie, and scattered observations of these seeps were made by European-descended settlers throughout the eastern seaboard through the 1700s. In 1821, William Hart dug the first commercial natural gas well in the United States at Fredonia, New York , United States, which led in 1858 to
8060-619: The United States in 1965 was more than eight times the peak wartime consumption. After the Helium Acts Amendments of 1960 (Public Law 86–777), the U.S. Bureau of Mines arranged for five private plants to recover helium from natural gas. For this helium conservation program, the Bureau built a 425-mile (684 km) pipeline from Bushton, Kansas , to connect those plants with the government's partially depleted Cliffside gas field near Amarillo, Texas. This helium-nitrogen mixture
8184-440: The alpha particles that emerge are fully ionized helium-4 nuclei. Helium-4 is an unusually stable nucleus because its nucleons are arranged into complete shells . It was also formed in enormous quantities during Big Bang nucleosynthesis . Helium-3 is present on Earth only in trace amounts. Most of it has been present since Earth's formation, though some falls to Earth trapped in cosmic dust . Trace amounts are also produced by
8308-412: The behavior of the two fluid phases of helium-4 (helium I and helium II) is important to researchers studying quantum mechanics (in particular the property of superfluidity ) and to those looking at the phenomena, such as superconductivity , produced in matter near absolute zero . On Earth, it is relatively rare—5.2 ppm by volume in the atmosphere . Most terrestrial helium present today
8432-702: The bottoms of the gashouse ovens was often used for roofing and other waterproofing purposes, and when mixed with sand and gravel was used for paving streets. Huge quantities of natural gas (primarily methane) exist in the form of clathrates under sediment on offshore continental shelves and on land in arctic regions that experience permafrost , such as those in Siberia . Hydrates require a combination of high pressure and low temperature to form. In 2013, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) announced that they had recovered commercially relevant quantities of natural gas from methane hydrate. The image below
8556-654: The decayed organisms originally obtained from the sun via photosynthesis is stored as chemical energy within the molecules of methane and other hydrocarbons. Natural gas can be burned for heating, cooking, and electricity generation . Consisting mainly of methane, natural gas is rarely used as a chemical feedstock . The extraction and consumption of natural gas is a major industry. When burned for heat or electricity , natural gas emits fewer toxic air pollutants, less carbon dioxide, and almost no particulate matter compared to other fossil and biomass fuels. However, gas venting and unintended fugitive emissions throughout
8680-474: The developed world it is supplied through pipes to homes, where it is used for many purposes including ranges and ovens, heating / cooling , outdoor and portable grills , and central heating . Heaters in homes and other buildings may include boilers, furnaces , and water heaters . Both North America and Europe are major consumers of natural gas. Helium Helium (from Greek : ἥλιος , romanized : helios , lit. 'sun')
8804-446: The eastern US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were simple by-product coke ovens that heated bituminous coal in air-tight chambers. The gas driven off from the coal was collected and distributed through networks of pipes to residences and other buildings where it was used for cooking and lighting. (Gas heating did not come into widespread use until the last half of the 20th century.) The coal tar (or asphalt ) that collected in
8928-446: The economic and environmental benefits of floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG). There are currently projects underway to construct five FLNG facilities. Petronas is close to completion on their FLNG-1 at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering and are underway on their FLNG-2 project at Samsung Heavy Industries . Shell Prelude is due to start production 2017. The Browse LNG project will commence FEED in 2019. Natural gas
9052-446: The element's chemical inertness, and also the lack of interaction of helium atoms with each other, producing the lowest melting and boiling points of all the elements. In a similar way, the particular energetic stability of the helium-4 nucleus, produced by similar effects, accounts for the ease of helium-4 production in atomic reactions that involve either heavy-particle emission or fusion. Some stable helium-3 (two protons and one neutron)
9176-515: The existence of a different phase of solid helium-4, designated the gamma-phase. It exists for a narrow range of pressure between 1.45 and 1.78 K. After an oil drilling operation in 1903 in Dexter, Kansas produced a gas geyser that would not burn, Kansas state geologist Erasmus Haworth collected samples of the escaping gas and took them back to the University of Kansas at Lawrence where, with
9300-517: The existence of this new element. The ending "-ium" is unusual, as it normally applies only to metallic elements; probably Lockyer, being an astronomer, was unaware of the chemical conventions. In 1881, Italian physicist Luigi Palmieri detected helium on Earth for the first time through its D 3 spectral line, when he analyzed a material that had been sublimated during a recent eruption of Mount Vesuvius . On March 26, 1895, Scottish chemist Sir William Ramsay isolated helium on Earth by treating
9424-451: The few minutes after the Big Bang, before the early expanding universe cooled to the temperature and pressure point where helium fusion to carbon was no longer possible. This left the early universe with a very similar ratio of hydrogen/helium as is observed today (3 parts hydrogen to 1 part helium-4 by mass), with nearly all the neutrons in the universe trapped in helium-4. All heavier elements (including those necessary for rocky planets like
9548-497: The formation of the Fredonia Gas Light Company . Further such ventures followed near wells in other states, until technological innovations allowed the growth of major long distance pipelines from the 1920s onward. By 2009, 66,000 km (16,000 cu mi) (or 8%) had been used out of the total 850,000 km (200,000 cu mi) of estimated remaining recoverable reserves of natural gas. In
9672-461: The fuel found that, across political identifications, the term "methane gas" led to better estimates of its harms and risks. Natural gas can come out of the ground and cause a long-burning fire. In ancient Greece , the gas flames at Mount Chimaera contributed to the legend of the fire-breathing creature Chimera . In ancient China , gas resulting from the drilling for brines was first used by about 400 BC. The Chinese transported gas seeping from
9796-435: The gas needs to be cooled down and compressed, as the friction in the pipeline causes the gas to heat up. Many existing pipelines in the US are close to reaching their capacity, prompting some politicians representing northern states to speak of potential shortages. The large trade cost implies that natural gas markets are globally much less integrated, causing significant price differences across countries. In Western Europe ,
9920-517: The gas pipeline network is already dense. New pipelines are planned or under construction between Western Europe and the Near East or Northern Africa . Whenever gas is bought or sold at custody transfer points, rules and agreements are made regarding the gas quality. These may include the maximum allowable concentration of CO 2 , H 2 S and H 2 O . Usually sales quality gas that has been treated to remove contamination
10044-896: The gas to consumer markets. Until the early part of the 20th century, most natural gas associated with oil was either simply released or burned off at oil fields. Gas venting and production flaring are still practised in modern times, but efforts are ongoing around the world to retire them, and to replace them with other commercially viable and useful alternatives. In addition to transporting gas via pipelines for use in power generation, other end uses for natural gas include export as liquefied natural gas (LNG) or conversion of natural gas into other liquid products via gas to liquids (GTL) technologies. GTL technologies can convert natural gas into liquids products such as gasoline, diesel or jet fuel. A variety of GTL technologies have been developed, including Fischer–Tropsch (F–T), methanol to gasoline (MTG) and syngas to gasoline plus (STG+). F–T produces
10168-526: The ground in crude pipelines of bamboo to where it was used to boil salt water to extract the salt in the Ziliujing District of Sichuan . Natural gas was not widely used before the development of long distance pipelines in the early twentieth century. Before that, most use was near to the source of the well, and the predominant gas for fuel and lighting during the industrial revolution was manufactured coal gas. The history of natural gas in
10292-420: The heat. Helium II has no such valence band but nevertheless conducts heat well. The flow of heat is governed by equations that are similar to the wave equation used to characterize sound propagation in air. When heat is introduced, it moves at 20 meters per second at 1.8 K through helium II as waves in a phenomenon known as second sound . Helium II also exhibits a creeping effect. When
10416-567: The helium stays inside. If helium-3 is used, it can be readily observed by helium nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy . Many fullerenes containing helium-3 have been reported. Although the helium atoms are not attached by covalent or ionic bonds, these substances have distinct properties and a definite composition, like all stoichiometric chemical compounds. Under high pressures helium can form compounds with various other elements. Helium-nitrogen clathrate (He(N 2 ) 11 ) crystals have been grown at room temperature at pressures ca. 10 GPa in
10540-400: The help of chemists Hamilton Cady and David McFarland, he discovered that the gas consisted of, by volume, 72% nitrogen, 15% methane (a combustible percentage only with sufficient oxygen), 1% hydrogen , and 12% an unidentifiable gas. With further analysis, Cady and McFarland discovered that 1.84% of the gas sample was helium. This showed that despite its overall rarity on Earth, helium
10664-442: The higher-molecular weight hydrocarbons to produce natural gas with energy content between 35–39 megajoules per cubic metre (950–1,050 British thermal units per cubic foot). The processed natural gas may then be used for residential, commercial and industrial uses. Natural gas flowing in the distribution lines is called mid-stream natural gas and is often used to power engines which rotate compressors. These compressors are required in
10788-612: The largest proven gas reserves. Sources that consider that Russia has by far the largest proven reserves include the US Central Intelligence Agency (47,600 km ) and Energy Information Administration (47,800 km ), as well as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (48,700 km ). Contrarily, BP credits Russia with only 32,900 km , which would place it in second, slightly behind Iran (33,100 to 33,800 km , depending on
10912-429: The lines to nitrogen . His letter of congratulations to Ramsay offers an interesting case of discovery, and near-discovery, in science. In 1907, Ernest Rutherford and Thomas Royds demonstrated that alpha particles are helium nuclei by allowing the particles to penetrate the thin glass wall of an evacuated tube , then creating a discharge in the tube, to study the spectrum of the new gas inside. In 1908, helium
11036-427: The mineral cleveite (a variety of uraninite with at least 10% rare-earth elements ) with mineral acids . Ramsay was looking for argon but, after separating nitrogen and oxygen from the gas, liberated by sulfuric acid , he noticed a bright yellow line that matched the D 3 line observed in the spectrum of the Sun. These samples were identified as helium by Lockyer and British physicist William Crookes . It
11160-433: The natural gas can be transported. Natural gas extracted from oil wells is called casinghead gas (whether or not truly produced up the annulus and through a casinghead outlet) or associated gas. The natural gas industry is extracting an increasing quantity of gas from challenging, unconventional resource types : sour gas , tight gas , shale gas , and coalbed methane . There is some disagreement on which country has
11284-497: The neutral molecule He 2 , which has a large number of band systems , and HgHe, which is apparently held together only by polarization forces. Van der Waals compounds of helium can also be formed with cryogenic helium gas and atoms of some other substance, such as LiHe and He 2 . Theoretically, other true compounds may be possible, such as helium fluorohydride (HHeF), which would be analogous to HArF , discovered in 2000. Calculations show that two new compounds containing
11408-471: The order of 10 ppb , much higher than the approximately 5 ppt found in the Earth's atmosphere. A number of people, starting with Gerald Kulcinski in 1986, have proposed to explore the Moon, mine lunar regolith, and use the helium-3 for fusion . Liquid helium-4 can be cooled to about 1 K (−272.15 °C; −457.87 °F) using evaporative cooling in a 1-K pot . Similar cooling of helium-3, which has
11532-475: The other, so that the effective nuclear charge Z eff which each electron sees is about 1.69 units, not the 2 charges of a classic "bare" helium nucleus. The nucleus of the helium-4 atom is identical with an alpha particle . High-energy electron-scattering experiments show its charge to decrease exponentially from a maximum at a central point, exactly as does the charge density of helium's own electron cloud . This symmetry reflects similar underlying physics:
11656-402: The pair of neutrons and the pair of protons in helium's nucleus obey the same quantum mechanical rules as do helium's pair of electrons (although the nuclear particles are subject to a different nuclear binding potential), so that all these fermions fully occupy 1s orbitals in pairs, none of them possessing orbital angular momentum, and each cancelling the other's intrinsic spin. This arrangement
11780-477: The perspective of quantum mechanics , helium is the second simplest atom to model, following the hydrogen atom . Helium is composed of two electrons in atomic orbitals surrounding a nucleus containing two protons and (usually) two neutrons. As in Newtonian mechanics, no system that consists of more than two particles can be solved with an exact analytical mathematical approach (see 3-body problem ) and helium
11904-441: The pores of the gas reservoir get depleted. One method to deal with this problem is to re-inject dried gas free of condensate to maintain the underground pressure and to allow re-evaporation and extraction of condensates. More frequently, the liquid condenses at the surface, and one of the tasks of the gas plant is to collect this condensate. The resulting liquid is called natural gas liquid (NGL) and has commercial value. Shale gas
12028-420: The pressure, causing liquid to fountain out of the container. The thermal conductivity of helium II is greater than that of any other known substance, a million times that of helium I and several hundred times that of copper . This is because heat conduction occurs by an exceptional quantum mechanism. Most materials that conduct heat well have a valence band of free electrons which serve to transfer
12152-522: The prohibitive cost of the gas, German Zeppelins were forced to use hydrogen as lifting gas, which would gain infamy in the Hindenburg disaster . The helium market after World War II was depressed but the reserve was expanded in the 1950s to ensure a supply of liquid helium as a coolant to create oxygen/hydrogen rocket fuel (among other uses) during the Space Race and Cold War . Helium use in
12276-518: The reserve to continue to sell the gas. Other large reserves were in the Hugoton in Kansas , United States, and nearby gas fields of Kansas and the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma . New helium plants were scheduled to open in 2012 in Qatar , Russia, and the US state of Wyoming , but they were not expected to ease the shortage. In 2013, Qatar started up the world's largest helium unit, although
12400-422: The restoring force is the van der Waals force . These waves are known as third sound . Helium remains liquid down to absolute zero at atmospheric pressure, but it freezes at high pressure. Solid helium requires a temperature of 1–1.5 K (about −272 °C or −457 °F) at about 25 bar (2.5 MPa) of pressure. It is often hard to distinguish solid from liquid helium since the refractive index of
12524-571: The second leading producer of helium. Through this time, both helium consumption and the costs of producing helium increased. From 2002 to 2007 helium prices doubled. As of 2012 , the United States National Helium Reserve accounted for 30 percent of the world's helium. The reserve was expected to run out of helium in 2018. Despite that, a proposed bill in the United States Senate would allow
12648-462: The solar spectrum, which he named the D 3 because it was near the known D 1 and D 2 Fraunhofer lines of sodium. He concluded that it was caused by an element in the Sun unknown on Earth. Lockyer named the element with the Greek word for the Sun, ἥλιος ( helios ). It is sometimes said that English chemist Edward Frankland was also involved in the naming, but this is unlikely as he doubted
12772-550: The source). It is estimated that there are about 900,000 km of "unconventional" gas such as shale gas, of which 180,000 km may be recoverable. In turn, many studies from MIT , Black & Veatch and the US Department of Energy predict that natural gas will account for a larger portion of electricity generation and heat in the future. The world's largest gas field is the offshore South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field , shared between Iran and Qatar. It
12896-654: The third peak in December 2019, extraction continued to fall from March onward due to decreased demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the US . The 2021 global energy crisis was driven by a global surge in demand as the world quit the economic recession caused by COVID-19, particularly due to strong energy demand in Asia. Because of its low density, it is not easy to store natural gas or to transport it by vehicle. Natural gas pipelines are impractical across oceans, since
13020-412: The transmission line to pressurize and repressurize the mid-stream natural gas as the gas travels. Typically, natural gas powered engines require 35–39 MJ/m (950–1,050 BTU/cu ft) natural gas to operate at the rotational name plate specifications. Several methods are used to remove these higher molecular weighted gases for use by the natural gas engine. A few technologies are as follows: In
13144-450: The two phases are nearly the same. The solid has a sharp melting point and has a crystalline structure, but it is highly compressible ; applying pressure in a laboratory can decrease its volume by more than 30%. With a bulk modulus of about 27 MPa it is ~100 times more compressible than water. Solid helium has a density of 0.214 ± 0.006 g/cm at 1.15 K and 66 atm; the projected density at 0 K and 25 bar (2.5 MPa)
13268-461: The universe is helium-4, the vast majority of which was formed during the Big Bang . Large amounts of new helium are created by nuclear fusion of hydrogen in stars . Helium was first detected as an unknown, yellow spectral line signature in sunlight during a solar eclipse in 1868 by Georges Rayet , Captain C. T. Haig, Norman R. Pogson , and Lieutenant John Herschel, and was subsequently confirmed by French astronomer Jules Janssen . Janssen
13392-683: The world, while extraction plants in Canada, Poland, Russia, and other nations produced the remainder. In the mid-1990s, a new plant in Arzew , Algeria, producing 17 million cubic metres (600 million cubic feet) began operation, with enough production to cover all of Europe's demand. Meanwhile, by 2000, the consumption of helium within the U.S. had risen to more than 15 million kg per year. In 2004–2006, additional plants in Ras Laffan , Qatar , and Skikda , Algeria were built. Algeria quickly became
13516-502: The worldwide extraction, access to natural gas has become an important issue in international politics, and countries vie for control of pipelines. In the first decade of the 21st century, Gazprom , the state-owned energy company in Russia, engaged in disputes with Ukraine and Belarus over the price of natural gas, which have created concerns that gas deliveries to parts of Europe could be cut off for political reasons. The United States
13640-730: Was actually a big hole dug with shovels. The pipeline to transport the gas was made from hollowed out logs connected together with tar and rags. References [ edit ] ^ https://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/gaz-naturel/2-histoire/ ^ Dennis Allen Jacobs, Karen Anita Branden (2008). From McEnergy to EcoEnergy: America's Transition to Sustainable Energy . Dorrance Publishing. p. 55. ISBN 978-0874260755 . Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fredonia_Gas_Light_Company&oldid=1258973266 " Categories : Companies based in New York (state) Natural gas companies of
13764-536: Was also vital in the atomic bomb Manhattan Project . The government of the United States set up the National Helium Reserve in 1925 at Amarillo, Texas , with the goal of supplying military airships in time of war and commercial airships in peacetime. Because of the Helium Act of 1925 , which banned the export of scarce helium on which the US then had a production monopoly, together with
13888-409: Was available to make elements 3, 4 and 5. It is barely energetically favorable for helium to fuse into the next element with a lower energy per nucleon , carbon. However, due to the short lifetime of the intermediate beryllium-8, this process requires three helium nuclei striking each other nearly simultaneously (see triple-alpha process ). There was thus no time for significant carbon to be formed in
14012-570: Was concentrated in large quantities under the American Great Plains , available for extraction as a byproduct of natural gas . Following a suggestion by Sir Richard Threlfall , the United States Navy sponsored three small experimental helium plants during World War I. The goal was to supply barrage balloons with the non-flammable, lighter-than-air gas. A total of 5,700 m (200,000 cu ft) of 92% helium
14136-500: Was first liquefied by Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes by cooling the gas to less than 5 K (−268.15 °C; −450.67 °F). He tried to solidify it by further reducing the temperature but failed, because helium does not solidify at atmospheric pressure. Onnes' student Willem Hendrik Keesom was eventually able to solidify 1 cm of helium in 1926 by applying additional external pressure. In 1913, Niels Bohr published his "trilogy" on atomic structure that included
14260-493: Was independently isolated from cleveite in the same year by chemists Per Teodor Cleve and Abraham Langlet in Uppsala , Sweden, who collected enough of the gas to accurately determine its atomic weight . Helium was also isolated by American geochemist William Francis Hillebrand prior to Ramsay's discovery, when he noticed unusual spectral lines while testing a sample of the mineral uraninite. Hillebrand, however, attributed
14384-695: Was initially skeptical but was ultimately convinced that Bohr was correct, and by 1915 "spectroscopists had transferred [the Pickering–Fowler series] definitively [from hydrogen] to helium." Bohr's theoretical work on the Pickering series had demonstrated the need for "a re-examination of problems that seemed already to have been solved within classical theories" and provided important confirmation for his atomic theory. In 1938, Russian physicist Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa discovered that helium-4 has almost no viscosity at temperatures near absolute zero ,
14508-602: Was injected and stored in the Cliffside gas field until needed, at which time it was further purified. By 1995, a billion cubic meters of the gas had been collected and the reserve was US$ 1.4 billion in debt, prompting the Congress of the United States in 1996 to discontinue the reserve. The resulting Helium Privatization Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–273) directed the United States Department of
14632-494: Was invented in Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s, ending any necessity for flaring. Satellite and nearby infra-red camera observations, however, shows that flaring and venting are still happening in some countries. Natural gas is used to generate electricity and heat for desalination . Similarly, some landfills that also discharge methane gases have been set up to capture the methane and generate electricity. Natural gas
14756-457: Was observed on August 18, 1868, as a bright yellow line with a wavelength of 587.49 nanometers in the spectrum of the chromosphere of the Sun . The line was detected by French astronomer Jules Janssen during a total solar eclipse in Guntur , India. This line was initially assumed to be sodium . On October 20 of the same year, English astronomer Norman Lockyer observed a yellow line in
14880-406: Was observed. Existing theory explains this using the two-fluid model for helium II. In this model, liquid helium below the lambda point is viewed as containing a proportion of helium atoms in a ground state , which are superfluid and flow with exactly zero viscosity, and a proportion of helium atoms in an excited state, which behave more like an ordinary fluid. In the fountain effect , a chamber
15004-522: Was possible, almost all first compound atomic nuclei to form were helium-4 nuclei. Owing to the relatively tight binding of helium-4 nuclei, its production consumed nearly all of the free neutrons in a few minutes, before they could beta-decay, and thus few neutrons were available to form heavier atoms such as lithium, beryllium, or boron. Helium-4 nuclear binding per nucleon is stronger than in any of these elements (see nucleogenesis and binding energy ) and thus, once helium had been formed, no energetic drive
15128-517: Was produced in the program even though less than a cubic meter of the gas had previously been obtained. Some of this gas was used in the world's first helium-filled airship, the U.S. Navy's C-class blimp C-7, which flew its maiden voyage from Hampton Roads, Virginia , to Bolling Field in Washington, D.C., on December 1, 1921, nearly two years before the Navy's first rigid helium-filled airship,
15252-567: Was recovered in the course of recovering petroleum could not be profitably sold, and was simply burned at the oil field in a process known as flaring . Flaring is now illegal in many countries. Additionally, higher demand in the last 20–30 years has made production of gas associated with oil economically viable. As a further option, the gas is now sometimes re- injected into the formation for enhanced oil recovery by pressure maintenance as well as miscible or immiscible flooding. Conservation, re-injection, or flaring of natural gas associated with oil
15376-583: Was the first natural gas company in the United States . It was founded by a group of entrepreneurs after William Hart, considered the "father of natural gas" in the U.S., drilled in 1821 the first natural gas well in America along Canadaway Creek in Fredonia, New York . The well was approximately 27 feet (8.2 m) deep; by contrast, modern wells are over 7,500 feet (2,300 m) deep. The well
#242757