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Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/dinosaur/?comic=35
Strip by: David Morgan-Mar
T-Rex: T-Rex Presents The Periodic Table.
T-Rex: 2. HELIUM!
T-Rex: An inert gas first detected in the Sun by spectral analysis, before it was discovered on Earth. True!
Utahraptor: He He He!
T-Rex: Why are you laughing?
Utahraptor: I'm not. That's the chemical symbol for helium.
T-Rex: Great.
T-Rex: Now I can't take it seriously as an element any more.
The author writes:
Helium doesn't react or form compounds with anything, and if it gets into the atmosphere it's so light that it rises to the top and then escapes into space. Also true!
We only have helium on Earth because it is formed as a product of radioactive decay of elements like uranium and thorium underground, and then gets trapped in the same underground pockets that trap natural gas. That's where we get it from. Also also true!!
And it really is a serious element, no matter what its chemical symbol is!