Too much oxygen can be harmful

Humans need oxygen to live, but too much of it can also hurt you, because oxygen is an oxidant. When the body has an excess supply of oxygen, the body system breaks excess oxygen into a reactive negatively charged ion that can bind to iron; hydroxyl radical is created that can damage lipids in cell membranes. Luckily, the body maintains a supply of antioxidants to combat day-to-day oxidative stress.

There are many more uses for helium than just for balloons

Helium inflates blimps, balloons and is useful for research purposes. For industries, it used as an inert shield for arc welding, to pressurise fuel tanks of liquid-fuelled rockets, and in supersonic wind tunnels.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft will be built with aluminium

This spacecraft built for deep space exploration is mostly made up of aluminium alloys. NASA plans to send six spacecraft to at least 12 Artemis missions. Part of the programme is to send the first woman and the next man to the moon, sometime before 2024.

Aluminium is the 12th most abundant of all the elements in space

Aluminium content in the Solar System is 3.15 ppm (parts per million). It is more common in Earth, making up 1.59% of the Earth’s mass. Highly reactive elements usually stay on the Earth’s surface, while less reactive ones such as gold sink into the core.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 22nd, 2022