book reviews Helium--Child of the Sun
Clifford W. Seibel, U. S. Bureau of Mines (retired). The University Press of Kansas, LawrenceILondon, 1968. xiii + 138 pp. Photographs. 14 X 21.5 cm. $4.95. Helium was @st discovered in 1868 by Norman Lockyer, the amateur British astronomer, who found a line in the solar spectrum that he attributed to a. new element. In 1895, William Ramsay, who was searching for occurrences of argon other than in the earth's atmosphere, found helium in the gas evolved when such minerals as clevite were treated with acid. Smell amounts of helium were found in the gases from certain mineral springs and fumaroles. In 1905, H. P. Cady found that the gas coming from a well at Dexter, Kan., and that would not burn, contained 1.84% helium, the first discovery of a significant source of the element. No commercial uses for the inert element were found and it remained a laboratory curiosity until World War I was well under way, when the British found it necessary to find a substitute for hydrogen for inflating their balloons and blimps. Intensive searches revealed that the only adequate supply of helium was in the Kansas gases and the U. S. Government immediately began the project of extraeting the helium from these gases.
A280
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Journal of Chemical Education
This book consists largely of a condensed history of this industrial process. The author, trained in chemistry and engineering rtt Kansas, tells the story in a popular easy-to-read style. The extraction method consisted of a combination of thermodynamics, cryogenics, and absorption, spiced with a liberal amount of horse sense. In time, the oil and gas oampanies were brought into the picture, and plants centered around Amarillo, Texas, extracted the helium from the natural gases before they were sent to the consumer. It has never been satisfactorily explained why this Kansas-Texas region is unique with regard to helium-hearing natural gases. The plants increased in efficiency and quality of product, while the costs went down. When the war came to its end, many of the plants shut down because there were no customers. However, the thinking men in charge realized that natural gas that was burned before removal of the helium meant an irretrievable loss and the However, new demands for helium sprang up such as heliumshielded welding, deep seaand space explorations, medicine and surgery, chromatography, propellant systems, and others. The demands now are often greater than the supply and the storage cavern is called on. Though the government no longer exercises a monopoly in this area, it still has a big role in theindustry, and it is arealpleasure toread this account of a government project that
turned out so well in contrmt to so many that artre rightly condemned. School libraries are urged to acquire this account of the growth and development of this little scorn into a mighty oak. I t presents a. prime example of a material whose commercial values became apparent when civilization reached a sufficient height of sophistication,
RALPHE. OESPER University o j Cineinnali Cincinnati, Ohio Glass Blowing for Laboratory Technicians
R. Barhur, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Pergamon 245 pp. Press, New York, 1968. xv Figs. and tables. 13.5 X 20.5 cm. 85.
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This book is a rather comprehensive presentation of glassblowing and related techniques that are useful in a. scientific laboratory. In the central portion of the book are maim chanters on elementarv. a mercury diffusion pump, a. Cartesian manometer, Dewar flasks, and the use of glassblowing lathes. There are also chapters on vacuum techniques, the making of ground joints, and the organizing of glassblowing courses. The author of the book is a New Zealander and the presentation is more closely related to British practices than to Ameri(Continued on page A2841
