Helium is colourless, odourless and non-flammable, with a boiling point of -268.93°C – the lowest of any element. Its tiny atomic size makes it ideal for precision leak detection. Liquid helium is the standard coolant for superconducting magnets in MRI scanners and particle accelerators, and is equally essential in cryogenics research and nuclear reactor cooling.
In technology, helium is critical to the manufacture of semiconductors, computer chips, LCD panels and fibre-optic cable. Helium-filled hard drives deliver 50% more storage capacity and 23% greater energy efficiency, and are used in the world’s largest data centres. In quantum computing, liquid helium cools superconducting components to near absolute zero and there is no substitute. In aerospace, its inert nature makes it the standard purge gas in rocket engines.
