Good news indeed, especially for the economy of Tanzania, which should be buoyed significantly. Hopefully it won’t lead to inflation. With their economy ballooning, Tanzanians should be singing with joy. I hope they remember the geologists at Durham and Oxford universities, and have the decency to just say “Tanks.”
Given the relative abundance of uranium in the crust (1.8 ppm by mass), the mass of the crust (2.6E22 kg), and the half life (141E6 years), about 500E6 cubic feet of new helium should be produced every year. Thorium, with 6 times the abundance but 100 times the half life, would contribute another 16E6 cubic feet per year. As long as we haven’t reached equilibrium, we should have enough helium for a very long time – we just have to know where to look.
Good news indeed, especially for the economy of Tanzania, which should be buoyed significantly. Hopefully it won’t lead to inflation. With their economy ballooning, Tanzanians should be singing with joy. I hope they remember the geologists at Durham and Oxford universities, and have the decency to just say “Tanks.”
Somehow, the link in the “singing” gag didn’t show up. This is what it pointed to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAWX1ASHs-I
Given the relative abundance of uranium in the crust (1.8 ppm by mass), the mass of the crust (2.6E22 kg), and the half life (141E6 years), about 500E6 cubic feet of new helium should be produced every year. Thorium, with 6 times the abundance but 100 times the half life, would contribute another 16E6 cubic feet per year. As long as we haven’t reached equilibrium, we should have enough helium for a very long time – we just have to know where to look.