Uses of Helium (He) in Everyday Life
From the Helium page's study notes: Helium (He) serves in lighting, lasers and inert atmospheres. The full list, with Bangladesh examples, sits below.
Teachers call it "one fact, fully handled" — exactly what this page does for Helium. The answer sits at the top in bold; scroll for the working, the shell-by-shell breakdown and the two questions students ask most. Need the whole picture instead — history, characteristics, uses, exam questions? The full Helium page is one click away.
Helium at work around you
Every use below comes straight from the full Helium study page, where each point also carries the chemistry behind it and an exam-style question. Skim the list here; open the full page when revision time comes.
Uses of Helium in the study notes
- Cooling the superconducting magnets of MRI scanners — liquid helium is the only cryogenic liquid cold enough to hold them near 4 K; no hospital can run its MRI machine without it.
- A safe lifting gas for party balloons, weather balloons and modern airships — non-flammable, unlike the hydrogen that destroyed the Hindenburg airship in 1937.
- Deep-sea divers breathe heliox, a helium–oxygen mixture, because helium does not cause the dangerous narcosis that nitrogen produces under high pressure.
- Providing inert protective atmospheres for growing silicon crystals and for welding, and pressurizing and purging the fuel tanks of rockets.
Where you meet it
- A helium party balloon that keeps floating near the ceiling for days — and briefly makes the speaker’s voice squeaky when a little gas is breathed in.
- The Sun: about a quarter of our star’s mass is helium, freshly minted from hydrogen fusion in its core every passing second.
- Natural gas fields — the world’s helium is squeezed out of natural gas; every floating balloon traces back to such a gas field.
Students also ask
Why is Helium important in Bangladesh?
The full study page connects Helium to Bangladeshi life — school labs, local industries, health and the NCTB syllabus. This quick-answer page is the fast summary; the element page is the full story.
Where will I meet Helium in the NCTB exam?
Questions on Helium's uses are a recurring pattern in Class 9–10 and HSC chemistry. The element page ends with six exam-style questions in both languages — practise those and this pattern stops costing marks.