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Helium is the second element of the periodic table, a colorless and odorless noble gas. Its atom contains two protons (the He-4 isotope has two neutrons, He-3 has one). The filled electron shell makes helium chemically inert. Under normal conditions, it is a monatomic gas (atoms do not form molecules) with very low density. When liquid helium-4 is cooled to 2.17 K, it transitions to a superfluid state: it flows without friction and has enormous thermal conductivity.

History

Helium was first noticed not on Earth but on the Sun: in 1868, astronomers discovered a bright yellow line in the solar spectrum that did not belong to any known element. It was attributed to a new element, named helium after Helios, the god of the Sun. On Earth, helium was isolated only in 1895 from uranium ore.

How it works

Helium is extracted from natural gas, where it accumulates over millions of years as a product of radioactive decay of heavy elements. The unusual properties of helium at low temperatures are explained by quantum effects: its atoms are so light that when cooled they behave like waves, creating superfluidity — frictionless flow.

💡 Helium is the only simple substance that remains liquid at absolute zero temperature (at normal pressure); quantum fluctuations prevent it from freezing.
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