Helium-4

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Helium-4, 4He
General
Symbol 4He
Names helium-4, 4He, He-4
Protons (Z)2
Neutrons (N)2
Nuclide data
Natural abundance 99.999863%
Half-life (t1/2)stable
Isotope mass 4.002603254 Da
Spin 0
Binding energy 28295.7 keV
Isotopes of helium
Complete table of nuclides
The helium atom. Depicted are the nucleus (pink) and the electron cloud distribution (black). The nucleus (upper right) in helium-4 is in reality spherically symmetric and closely resembles the electron cloud, although for more complicated nuclei this is not always the case. Helium atom QM.svg
The helium atom. Depicted are the nucleus (pink) and the electron cloud distribution (black). The nucleus (upper right) in helium-4 is in reality spherically symmetric and closely resembles the electron cloud, although for more complicated nuclei this is not always the case.

Helium-4 (4
He
) is a stable isotope of the element helium. It is by far the more abundant of the two naturally occurring isotopes of helium, making up about 99.99986% of the helium on Earth. Its nucleus is identical to an alpha particle, and consists of two protons and two neutrons.

Contents

Alpha decay of heavy elements in the Earth's crust is the source of most naturally occurring helium-4 on Earth, produced after the planet cooled and solidified. While it is also produced by nuclear fusion in stars, most helium-4 in the Sun and in the universe is thought to have been produced by the Big Bang, and is referred to as "primordial helium". However, primordial helium-4 is largely absent from the Earth, having escaped during the high-temperature phase of Earth's formation.

Helium-4 makes up about one quarter of the ordinary matter in the universe by mass, with almost all of the rest being hydrogen.

When liquid helium-4 is cooled to below 2.17  K (−270.98 °C), it becomes a superfluid, with properties that are very unlike those of an ordinary liquid. For example, if superfluid helium-4 is kept in an open vessel, a thin film will climb up the sides of the vessel and overflow. In this state and situation, it is called a "Rollin film". This strange behavior is a result of the Clausius–Clapeyron relation and cannot be explained by the current model of classical mechanics, nor by nuclear or electrical models — it can only be understood as a quantum-mechanical phenomenon. The total spin of the helium-4 nucleus is an integer (zero), and therefore it is a boson (as are neutral atoms of helium-4). The superfluid behavior is now understood to be a manifestation of Bose–Einstein condensation, which occurs only with collections of bosons.

It is theorized that at 0.2 K and 50 atm, solid helium-4 may be a superglass (an amorphous solid exhibiting superfluidity). [1] [2] [3]

Helium-4 also exists on the Moon and — as on Earth  — it is the most abundant helium isotope. [4] [5] [6]

The helium-4 atom

The helium atom is the second simplest atom (hydrogen is the simplest), but the extra electron introduces a third "body", so its wave equation becomes a "three-body problem", which has no analytic solution. However, numerical approximations of the equations of quantum mechanics have given a good estimate of the key atomic properties of helium-4, such as its size and ionization energy.

The size of the 4He nucleus has long been known to be in the order of magnitude of 1  fm. In an experiment involving the use of exotic helium atoms where an atomic electron was replaced by a muon, the nucleus size has been estimated to be 1.67824(83) fm. [7]

Stability of the 4He nucleus and electron shell

The nucleus of the helium-4 atom has a type of stability called doubly magic. High-energy electron-scattering experiments show its charge to decrease exponentially from a maximum at a central point, exactly as does the charge density of helium's own electron cloud. This symmetry reflects similar underlying physics: the pair of neutrons and the pair of protons in helium's nucleus obey the same quantum mechanical rules as do helium's pair of electrons (although the nuclear particles are subject to a different nuclear binding potential), so that all these fermions fully occupy 1s orbitals in pairs, none of them possessing orbital angular momentum, and each canceling the other's intrinsic spin. Adding another of any of these particles would require angular momentum, and would release substantially less energy (in fact, no nucleus with five nucleons is stable). This arrangement is thus energetically extremely stable for all these particles, and this stability accounts for many crucial facts regarding helium in nature.

For example, the stability and low energy of the electron cloud of helium causes helium's chemical inertness (the most extreme of all the elements), and also the lack of interaction of helium atoms with each other (producing the lowest melting and boiling points of all the elements).

In a similar way, the particular energetic stability of the helium-4 nucleus, produced by similar effects, accounts for the ease of helium-4 production in atomic reactions involving both heavy-particle emission and fusion. Some stable helium-3 is produced in fusion reactions from hydrogen, but it is a very small fraction, compared with the highly energetically favorable production of helium-4. The stability of helium-4 is the reason that hydrogen is converted to helium-4, and not deuterium (hydrogen-2) or helium-3 or other heavier elements during fusion reactions in the Sun. It is also partly responsible for the alpha particle being by far the most common type of baryonic particle to be ejected from an atomic nucleus; in other words, alpha decay is far more common than cluster decay.

Binding energy per nucleon of common isotopes. The binding energy per particle of helium-4 is significantly larger than all nearby nuclides. Binding energy curve - common isotopes.svg
Binding energy per nucleon of common isotopes. The binding energy per particle of helium-4 is significantly larger than all nearby nuclides.

The unusual stability of the helium-4 nucleus is also important cosmologically. It explains the fact that, in the first few minutes after the Big Bang, as the "soup" of free protons and neutrons which had initially been created in about a 6:1 ratio cooled to the point where nuclear binding was possible, almost all atomic nuclei to form were helium-4 nuclei. The binding of the nucleons in helium-4 is so tight that its production consumed nearly all the free neutrons in a few minutes, before they could beta decay, and left very few to form heavier atoms (especially lithium, beryllium, and boron). The energy of helium-4 nuclear binding per nucleon is stronger than in any of those elements (see nucleogenesis and binding energy), and thus no energetic "drive" was available to make elements 3, 4, and 5 once helium had been formed. It is barely energetically favorable for helium to fuse into the next element with a higher energy per nucleon (carbon). However, due to the rarity of intermediate elements, and extreme instability of beryllium-8 (the product when two 4He nuclei fuse), this process needs three helium nuclei striking each other nearly simultaneously (see triple-alpha process). There was thus no time for significant carbon to be formed in the few minutes after the Big Bang, before the early expanding universe cooled to the temperature and pressure where helium fusion to carbon was no longer possible. This left the early universe with a very similar hydrogen–helium ratio as is observed today (3 parts hydrogen to 1 part helium-4 by mass), with nearly all the neutrons in the universe trapped in helium-4.

All heavier elements—including those necessary for rocky planets like the Earth, and for carbon-based or other life—thus had to be produced, since the Big Bang, in stars which were hot enough to fuse elements heavier than hydrogen. All elements other than hydrogen and helium today account for only 2% of the mass of atomic matter in the universe. Helium-4, by contrast, makes up about 23% of the universe's ordinary matter—nearly all the ordinary matter that is not hydrogen (1H).

See also

Related Research Articles

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The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol Z) of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei composed of protons and neutrons, this is equal to the proton number (np) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every atom of that element. The atomic number can be used to uniquely identify ordinary chemical elements. In an ordinary uncharged atom, the atomic number is also equal to the number of electrons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atom</span> Smallest unit of a chemical element

Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished from each other by the number of protons that are in their atoms. For example, any atom that contains 11 protons is sodium, and any atom that contains 29 protons is copper. Atoms with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons are called isotopes of the same element.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beta decay</span> Type of radioactive decay

In nuclear physics, beta decay (β-decay) is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits a beta particle, transforming into an isobar of that nuclide. For example, beta decay of a neutron transforms it into a proton by the emission of an electron accompanied by an antineutrino; or, conversely a proton is converted into a neutron by the emission of a positron with a neutrino in so-called positron emission. Neither the beta particle nor its associated (anti-)neutrino exist within the nucleus prior to beta decay, but are created in the decay process. By this process, unstable atoms obtain a more stable ratio of protons to neutrons. The probability of a nuclide decaying due to beta and other forms of decay is determined by its nuclear binding energy. The binding energies of all existing nuclides form what is called the nuclear band or valley of stability. For either electron or positron emission to be energetically possible, the energy release or Q value must be positive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neutron</span> Subatomic particle with no charge

The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol
n
 or
n0
, which has a neutral charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the nuclei of atoms. Since protons and neutrons behave similarly within the nucleus, they are both referred to as nucleons. Nucleons have a mass of approximately one atomic mass unit, or dalton, symbol Da. Their properties and interactions are described by nuclear physics. Protons and neutrons are not elementary particles; each is composed of three quarks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear physics</span> Field of physics that studies atomic nuclei

Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear fusion</span> Process of combining atomic nuclei

Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei, usually deuterium and tritium, combine to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles. The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the release or absorption of energy. This difference in mass arises due to the difference in nuclear binding energy between the atomic nuclei before and after the reaction. Nuclear fusion is the process that powers active or main-sequence stars and other high-magnitude stars, where large amounts of energy are released.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear reaction</span> Transformation of a nuclide to another

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oddo–Harkins rule</span> Relative abundance of chemical elements

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Although there are nine known isotopes of helium (2He), only helium-3 and helium-4 are stable. All radioisotopes are short-lived, the longest-lived being 6
He
 with a half-life of 806.92(24) milliseconds. The least stable is 10
He
, with a half-life of 260(40) yoctoseconds, although it is possible that 2
He
 may have an even shorter half-life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear binding energy</span> Minimum energy required to separate particles within a nucleus

Nuclear binding energy in experimental physics is the minimum energy that is required to disassemble the nucleus of an atom into its constituent protons and neutrons, known collectively as nucleons. The binding energy for stable nuclei is always a positive number, as the nucleus must gain energy for the nucleons to move apart from each other. Nucleons are attracted to each other by the strong nuclear force. In theoretical nuclear physics, the nuclear binding energy is considered a negative number. In this context it represents the energy of the nucleus relative to the energy of the constituent nucleons when they are infinitely far apart. Both the experimental and theoretical views are equivalent, with slightly different emphasis on what the binding energy means.

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Nickel-62 is an isotope of nickel having 28 protons and 34 neutrons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atomic nucleus</span> Core of an atom; composed of nucleons (protons and neutrons)

The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford based on the 1909 Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment. After the discovery of the neutron in 1932, models for a nucleus composed of protons and neutrons were quickly developed by Dmitri Ivanenko and Werner Heisenberg. An atom is composed of a positively charged nucleus, with a cloud of negatively charged electrons surrounding it, bound together by electrostatic force. Almost all of the mass of an atom is located in the nucleus, with a very small contribution from the electron cloud. Protons and neutrons are bound together to form a nucleus by the nuclear force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear drip line</span> Atomic nuclei decay delimiter

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discovery of the neutron</span> Scientific background leading to the discovery of subatomic particles

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References

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  2. ↑ "Press release: Supersolid or superglass? Cornell researchers study a strange state of matter in helium - Cornell Chronicle".
  3. ↑ Yu, Xiaoquan; Mueller, Markus (2012). "Mean field theory of superglasses". Physical Review B. 85 (10): 104205. arXiv: 1111.5956 . Bibcode:2012PhRvB..85j4205Y. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.85.104205. S2CID   119261743.
  4. ↑ "cold cathode gauges: Topics by Science.gov". www.science.gov.
  5. ↑ "Final Report Cold Cathode Gauge Experiment" (PDF). ntrs.nasa.gov.
  6. ↑ Cook, Melvin A. (1957). "Where is the Earth's Radiogenic Helium?". Nature. 179 (4552): 213. Bibcode:1957Natur.179..213C. doi: 10.1038/179213a0 . S2CID   4297697.
  7. ↑ Julian J. Krauth; Schuhmann, Karsten; Ahmed, Marwan Abdou; et al. (2021). "Measuring the α-particle charge radius with muonic helium-4 ions". Nature. 589 (7843): 527–531. Bibcode:2021Natur.589..527K. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03183-1 . PMC   7914124 . PMID   33505036.
Lighter:
helium-3 		Helium-4 is an
isotope of helium 		Heavier:
helium-5
Decay product of:
lithium-5 (p)
helium-5 (n)
beryllium-6 (2p)
beryllium-8 (α)		 Decay chain
of helium-4		 Decays to:
Stable
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