Helium (He) is an element that is found all over the universe. It is the second most-abundant element in the universe! It is also the second lightest element in the universe. It is lighter than the air that we breathe, so it always escapes from Earth’s atmosphere. Helium is called a “Noble Gas”. This is because helium can’t mix well with other elements. When helium is cooled down to the lowest temperature, it becomes a liquid with very strange properties.
Liquid helium defies gravity and creeps up walls and containers! Even though it is denser than helium gas, it still seems like it is very lightweight and goes against gravity. Scientists think it is a new state of matter called a “superfluid”. Superfluids have no thickness. Scientists are still analyzing liquid helium to find out for sure, what state of matter it really is.