What Is Helium Used For

Taking flight over the Fox Valley in rare Zeppelin

There will be more than just fireworks gracing the Fox Valley skies this holiday weekend as the world’s largest airship cruises into the region.

The 246-foot-long zeppelin, sponsored by Farmer’s Insurance, will offer public rides through Monday as part of Airship Ventures’ Covering Communities tour. The zeppelin is docked at the DuPage Airport in West Chicago.

Residents will have the opportunity to float 1,200 feet above the ground and take in the airship’s panoramic window views.

It’s truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The Farmer’s airship is one of only two zeppelins in the world, and the only one available for commercial flights. Unlike a blimp, a zeppelin has a rigid frame, which is covered and filled with helium. Most of the ship’s rise comes from the helium, but motors do allow helicopter-like movement.

Where a blimp’s motors are attached to the gondola where passengers ride, a zeppelin’s motors are attached to the ship’s frame. This makes for a smooth and quiet ride. When the windows are open you can hear sirens on the ground, crew members boasted.

“We don’t fly, we float,” Flight Operations Specialist David Finney said.

The airship has been used to tape sporting events, conduct oceanic research, and has been the birthplace of many happy wedding proposals.

“We’ve had a 100 percent success rate,” Finney said.

Even some of the airship’s crew members are ordained ministers prepared for on board weddings.

If you don’t get your reservation in before Monday, or if weather doesn’t permit flight, the airship will cruise back to town in August for the tour’s second Chicago stop.

Flights can be reserved by calling 650-969-8100, ext. 111, or by contacting reservations@airshipventures.com

Tour costs vary in price from $375 a person for a 45-minute tour and $495 a person for a one-hour tour.

Two-hour sunset tours to Chicago are $950 a person.

The airship is also available to be chartered.

The Helium Neon Laser-Excellent for Commercial Purposes | Helium ...

The helium neon laser is a gas laser which has a gain medium of a helium and neon mixture. This mixture is placed inside a capillary tube of small bore and the mixture is excited by an electrical discharge of direct current. Typical He Ne lasers which are used at a commercial level are small when compared to other gas lasers. It has 3 components: the laser tube, the power supply and the packaging.  The power supply is a high voltage supply.

These lasers were the first to be used with commercial applications of broadband as they could be easily adjusted for generating a visible red beam. Visible infra-red beams can be easily used for projecting straight lines for surveying, alignment, irrigation and construction. Surveyors use this for taking precise readings from distances especially when some terrains are inaccessible. Eye surgeons also started using this laser for welding detached retinas without making an incision in the eye.

You can also see the use of the helium neon laser in physics laboratories but they need to be handled with a lot of care. He Ne lasers are found in bar code readers. They are used in surgery for positioning infrared cutting beams. These are also widely used in holography. Holography is a technique to record light scattered from any object. This recorded light is used for reconstructing images.

This laser is too bright and it may affect your eyes if you stare at it directly. It is constructed to work in red at about 632.8 nm and it can be constructed to operate in green at about 543.5 nm and at 1523 nm in infrared. Its design is quite simple when compared to the modern standards and there are only 3 components. This operates by stimulated emission and amplification of light. Just because it is so inexpensive and it has so many advantages, it is widely used in industries and in research.

This laser is certainly not the most powerful laser and they are not even as efficient as other lasers but they still have the advantage that it has the ability of emitting a beam of good quality and it can emit visible light. Other lasers are 10 times more efficient than the helium neon laser but they cannot emit visible light with as much efficiency. He Ne lasers also don’t need any consumables like cryogenic gases or sapphire rods and as they do not generate too much heat, there is no need for cooling devices. The beam quality is good and the beam stays focused even at long distances. This is why the commercial use of He Ne lasers is increasing gradually.

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