Helium is the second lightest gas and follows hydrogen. Helium
is very valuable in the scientific world and has many
applications in the non-scientific world, too. It is extremely
useful and practical. Helium is inert which means it won’t
combust when combined with air and energy and it is far lighter
than air. Liquid helium is used to cool some of the most
powerful electromagnets in the world. It is also the first known
superfluid, or a fluid with many interesting qualities. Helium
is actually pretty rare and a limited resource. In fact, we’re
running out of it. Yet, it is the second most common element in
the universe. Here on Earth, though, there are only two places
to find it. It can be found in the earth’s atmosphere in its
exosphere which is the uppermost layer of the atmosphere. It is
such a small amount, though, that it is much too expensive to
extract from the atmosphere. The second place is in the ground
where pockets of helium are found. It is made through alpha
decay.http://bit.ly/MtEm2N - queenof