This post may sound like me being a curmudgeon, but I'm 100% serious ....
All of the users of KU NMR facility know that NMRs use big magnets. What you may not know is how we get so many tesla from that big thing in the middle of the room. Well, the principle is similar to the electromagnet you played with in 8th grade science. The big difference is that the coil of wire inside the NMR is cooled to ~4 Kelvin (that is -452 F or -269 C, for our Canadian friends). How do we get it so cold? We used liquid helium.
Interestingly enough, terrestrial sources of helium were discovered by chemists at the University of Kansas.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2000/apr/16/kansas_celebrates_its/
And the state of Kansas has long been one of the biggest producers of helium. However the supply is running out.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/oct/29/state-helium-fields-nearly-exhausted/
Simple economics teach us that when supply decreases (or demand increases) price goes up. It is no surprise that helium prices continue to climb.
More distressingly, suppliers can't deliver helium in a timely manner. We ordered 100 L of helium to do fill three magnets this week. Like any volatile liquid, helium evaporates and we have to "refill" the magnets with new helium. I just got word today that we won't have helium until next week. Fortunately, I am aware of these issues and I planned ahead to give myself a cushion.
So, you might ask - why not just turn off the magnet if you don't get helium? Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. There is no on-or-off button. The magnet is always "on". The only way to turn it "off" is "quench" the magnet. Once you quench a magnet it costs a lot of money (~$20,000) to turn it back "on".
So why am I so cranky? Well our lovely supplier can get plenty of tanks of gaseous helium to the Hyvee grocery store in Lawrence for Valentines Day, but can't get me 100L of liquid helium for my scientific instruments.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/feb/13/short-supply-helium-not-expected-deflate-valentine/
I hate Valentine's Day.
