this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2026
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Do not do this. Helium is a scarce resource and those balloons create pollution and kill animals when they come down.
There are a couple viable alternatives to helium for this particular application. Hydrogen and methane are both adequate lifting gasses.
I'll just shoot myself with a gun made of ice instead
We already have ice that can kill you on a hair trigger, it's called yelling at snowy mountains
Smart. We just need a 3d printer that can print ice
I was just gonna make a mold of a gun I already have and freeze some water in it
Make it even more inexplicable. Ice guillotine.
Yeah, use hydrogen for quadruple the lifting power! Send that gun to space!
or even better, fill the balloon with vacuum so that it has the least weight possible, meaning it'll float anywhere!
Helium is no longer all that scarce but balloons definitely create pollution and kill animals
It’s not?
We've just been relying on helium deposits that are running dry and have to use other methods of extracting it that are less economical
The problem with helium is that once we're out, we're out. It's the second-most abundant atom, yes, but it doesn't react with anything, can't freeze, and escapes the planet when exposed to open air.
The only source we have of it is radioactive decay, and it's not something we can manufacture in any volume. I think the only way to make it would be in a supercollider one atom at a time.
Radioactive decay is the source, yes, which means we won't be out of it until the earth is out of all of the radioactive isotopes that are undergoing alpha decay.
By the time that happens, Bussard collectors will probably escape from the realm of fiction.
Yes, but right now it's "cheap" because it's a byproduct of natural gas mining. As we transition off fossil fuels it won't be so easy to acquire.
One of the reasons the shortage was alleviated was the expansion of gas mining and the subsequent discovery of a bunch in Tanzenia.
Also a monkey could get their hands on the gun and kill even more animals.
IIRC, we get a ton of helium from methane extraction now, which we're increasingly relying on. We have more helium than we know what to do with at the moment I'm pretty sure. Now, once we stop using methane for power, then sure, it's limited. Currently it's a byproduct that there isn't enough use for compared to what's produced.
Since Iran blew up one of the major refineries in the middle east which removed a third of the world's production there's a shortage, can't buy helium here since it's only sold to critical infrastructure now.
The helium thing are my exact first thoughts