Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
helium-3
References
Images & Videos
phase diagrams of helium-3 and helium-4 phase diagram of helium-3
helium
Britannica AI Icon

helium-3

chemical isotope
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

phase diagrams of helium-3 and helium-4
phase diagrams of helium-3 and helium-4 The phase diagrams of (A) helium-3 and (B) helium-4 show which states of these isotopes are stable (see text).

Helium-3 (³He) is an isotope of helium with a mass number of three. It is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that becomes liquid at extremely low temperatures, lower than any other known substance.12

While helium is abundant in the universe, primarily formed through nuclear fusion in stars, the helium found on Earth originates from radioactive decay. The trace amounts of helium-3 on Earth are attributed to the beta decay of tritium, a rare hydrogen isotope. Helium-4 is the most common stable isotope, significantly outnumbering helium-3.2

Helium-3 has unique properties in its liquid form, including superfluidity, and can be used in cryogenics to achieve extremely low temperatures.2

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
3 Britannica Sources
  1. helium-3
  2. helium
  3. nuclear fusion - Fusion reactions in stars

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.