![]() ![]() The solution is injecting another gas to push the fuel out. As the fuel and oxidizer flow out of the tanks, they leave a vacuum behind, which can cause the fuel to stop flowing. Helium was essential to the first missions to the moon.Ī rocket is basically two very big tanks: In one tank is the fuel, and in the other, is the oxidizer, usually oxygen. Two years later, it crashed in severe weather, killing 73. ![]() Navy dirigible Akron, takes flight in 1931. The helium was not used before the war ended, Aubin says, but "they had thousands of cylinders filled, on the docks at New Orleans ready to be shipped to Europe in November of 1918, so it would have been used very soon." Aubin says the government quickly nationalized its nonflammable helium supply and rushed it to Europe to fill attack blimps. Meanwhile, American scientists had just discovered large helium deposits in natural gas fields in places like Kansas. After a few zeppelin raids over London, British troops developed incendiary bullets that would "light up the hydrogen in the dirigibles," says David Aubin, a professor for the history of science at Sorbonne Université in Paris. German zeppelins were the strategic weapons of their time, drifting over civilian targets and dropping bombs from their gondolas.īut zeppelins had a critical vulnerability: They were filled with highly flammable hydrogen. "It's the one element out of the entire periodic table that escapes the Earth and goes out into outer space," Hayes says.Īmerica once thought helium would turn the tide of war.ĭuring World War I, aviation was still in its infancy, and dirigibles were considered cutting-edge weapons of war. But only helium physically disappears from the planet. Other resources, such as oil and gas, may turn into pollution or be difficult to recycle. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |