So MRI helium is scarce because the required purity is very high to get the 4 Kelvin superfluid behavior. Helium for filling balloons (of the party type) is a lot, lot cheaper. I don’t know exactly how that translates into airship envelope helium, but you can’t take balloon-grade helium and put it in your MRI machine.
To add on the point of helium being expensive and valuable, it’s also extremely important for supercooling MRI’s and supercomputers.
I’d rather have more MRI’s than zeppelins.
So MRI helium is scarce because the required purity is very high to get the 4 Kelvin superfluid behavior. Helium for filling balloons (of the party type) is a lot, lot cheaper. I don’t know exactly how that translates into airship envelope helium, but you can’t take balloon-grade helium and put it in your MRI machine.
Huh, Today I Learn