by

Ashley Libbey

Hi! I'm Hector Helium! I'm a mole, and I'm here to tell you how I created the world! I'll start by explaining to you what I am. I am a Helium mole, or 6.02*10exp23 Helium atoms in one gram atomic mass of Helium. 6.02 *10exp23 is Avgadro's number or a mole. I consist of 4.00g. Helium gas or 6.02*10exp23 atoms of Helium or 2.41*10exp24 molecules of Helium. Now as far is the Helium part goes that's harder to explain. Each of my atoms consist of 1or 2 neutrons, 2 protons, and 2 electrons. My atomic weight is 4.00g/mole. I'm the second lightest element in the periodic table. I'm labeled as an inert or noble gas. At first, we (Helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, radon) were called inert gases because we were not found in combination with other elements. Later, however, scientists were able to "Coax" (they say coax, I say torture) us into a few combinations, so they had to change our name. We all have very low activity levels and create cool colors when you pass light through us. Although I wasn't discovered until 1868 and I wasn't created in a laboratory until 1895. I created the world. O.K. so I didn't do it alone but it still wouldn't have happened without me.

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS NOTHING..........Then there was a Hydrogen rain. Within three minutes Hydrogen atoms began to crash into each other to form Helium. For millions of years there was only Me and Hydrogen floating around the universe, which didn't yet exist. Well, since everything is constantly trying to be perfect, Hydrogen and I began to intermingle and disperse until there was a large cloud. It was sparse in some areas and lumpy in others. The large lumps are what would be the galaxies, the smaller lumps would be stars. Next, Nuclear Fusion began. Hydrogen atoms hit Hydrogen atoms and created Helium. This created, and still today creates, the stars.

1. This is the first stage of a stars life, called the Hydrogen burning stage. This stage is when the temperature of the Hydrogen cloud reaches 10 million degrees (10exp7 K) causing Hydrogen atoms to bump into each other until they form me, Helium.

2. Red Giant stage, after 10% of the Hydrogen has been consumed, the central region of the star rises 100 million degrees. At the same time the activity in the central region pushes away the outer regions.

3. The Helium burning stage. Now's when I'm really important. The core of the star is hot from the burning Hydrogen which causes me. Now I get hot and form Beryllium, Carbon and Oxygen. They're all pretty cool. They get more publicity than I do, but they owe me their lives. This continues till I'm exhausted, and burning and creating elements is exhausting work, and the carbon and oxygen levels are equal.

4.The second half of the Helium burning phase! The inner regions again contract and the temperature rises. This causes carbon and oxygen to begin burning. The result of this is the formation of Sodium, Magnesium, Silicon, and Sulfur. These elements will later form the terrestrial landscape.

So after that the star stabilizes and burns out woopti-do. It has nothing to do with me cause if I was still there it wouldn't burn out. So there! It isn't until ten billion years after I first came into existence that I become crucial again, so it's ten billion years until anything else important happens. Right now unstructured clouds are floating aimlessly through space. These dirty clouds consist mostly of Hydrogen and Helium, the most important elements EVER! The clouds are dirty with particles of all the other elements in the kingdom. Eventually, while yet again trying to be perfect, the cloud bursts into nuclear activity as Hydrogen fuses into ever popular ME, and we brighten the sky. However, all those other little dust particles are still floating around bumping into each other. They keep hitting each other until they form rocks, which form boulders, which form planetesimals, which form planets, which create our solar system, which surrounds the largest star of the nuclear explosion, the sun.

As far as earth goes, I ditched it. I decided to remain in the atmosphere, there was no one to connect with on Earth. I continued burning in the sun and stars. See! I created the Earth! Well O.K., so Hydrogen started it, but I got the ball rolling. Hey, I got the whole solar system rolling! Rolling, revolving, get it? So I'm a light little element floating around the universe and getting burned up in the stars and being created on Earth by burning Uranium and other elements. That's how humans discovered me, actually. One day in 1868 Ramsay was looking through his spectroscope at a solar eclipse and noticed me floating around. However, he didn't isolate me in a lab until 1895, when he was heating uranium ores to discover electrons. They then figured out if they cooled my gas and smashed me they could turn me into liquid.

Well, I was quite the popular little element then. Since as a liquid I was very cold they started using me to freeze things. I was especially good at this because I have the highest ionization level and therefore am the lowest reactor. So they use me to freeze bodies now. They call it, krio...kiros..Cryogenics! that's it, Cryogenics. For a while I was the only route to superconductivity too. See I'm important, well at least to scientists, but I still created the world!