Half of Earth's Heat from Radioactive Decay

Space Daily ^ | Aug 04, 2011 | staff writers

[Salman]

Nearly half of the Earth's heat comes from the radioactive decay of materials inside, according to a large international research collaboration that includes a Kansas State University physicist. Studying the physical properties of Earth can help astrobiologists understand the mechanisms that caused our planet to become habitable. In turn, this information can then be used to determine where and how to search for habitable worlds throughout the Universe.

...

[Paladin2]

That’s why I’ve argued that to measure the Earth’s temperature, it’d be best to measure ground temps on the land surfaces, much like they measure ocean water temperatures rather than air temperatures.

[mylife]

Holy shite!

[dila813]

Son of a gun, the temperature anomalies they were seeing in ground temperature readings could be due to the transport of heat emitting earth being transported via the earth’s hot interior and have nothing to do with the air temperature.

50% of the heat, and none of this is in the AGW Models.

[pingman]

No shiite, Sherlock! What’s Man-Bear-Pig’s plan to counteract this trend? Higher taxes, of course!

[abclily]

Al Gore needs to get folks to invest in volcano plugs to keep the heat from coming out of the earth. Hurry, hurry, Al!!!!!!

[PiperShade]

I can see where this is gonna pull the “anti-nuke luddites’ “ panties inna bunch.... >PS

[The Cajun]

Good grief, heat or cold depending on sun cycles, now heat
from radioactive decay in the earth, plus old Tipper having taken him to the
cleaners, what's AlGore to do now!!!

[Moonman62]

Be careful with your interpretation. From the article:

Previous research has shown that Earth's total heat output is about 44 terawatts, or 44 trillion watts. The KamLAND researchers found roughly half of that - 29 terawatts - comes from radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and other materials, meaning that about 50 percent of the earth's heat comes from geoneutrinos.

The researchers estimate that the other half of the earth's heat comes from primordial sources left over when the earth formed and from other sources of heat. Earth's heat is the cause behind plate movement, magnetic fields, volcanoes and seafloor spreading.

[jonascord]

This is nonsense. If this were true, then there would be radiation provoked mutations in all DNA, and those mutations that aided survival would be carried on, and those that were deadly would kill the organism.

It wouldn't be a steady series of changes, because of the random nature of the mutations, and the law of unintended consequences would sometimes create a species that would thrive, for a while, and then go extinct, like pandas and the California condor.

Nope, just can't be.

[dragonblustar]

Bush’s fault!

[seowulf]

If it weren’t for radioactive decay and residual heat from kinetic energy, it would be a very uncomfortable ice ball on which we’d be trying to eek out a survival, if we could survive at all.

[onedoug]

Call a amber lamps....

[Myrddin]

There is also the constant bombardment of the earth by particles from the sun. The earth’s mass increases constantly. The earth radiates heat back into space...particularly on cold, clear nights. The AGW nutballs are not scientists. They are agenda driven Marxists. The agenda calls for economic collapse by making energy sources unavailable.

[SunkenCiv]

from the J. Marvin Herndon keyword:

• Sun's rays to roast Earth as poles flip
• Jupiter's Spots Disappear Amid Major Climate Change
• Scientific maverick's theory on Earth's core up for a test
• First measurements of Earth's core radioactivity
• Cold Fusion --- The Sun in a bottle
• Sea floor records ancient Earth
• Slowly Strangling America's Golden Goose
• Lava Left It's Mark On Grand Canyon
• Earth's Hum Sounds More Mysterious Than Ever
• Earth's Core, Magnetic Field Changing Fast, Study Says
• Moon Has Iron Core, Lunar-Rock Study Says
• Did Earth's Twin Cores Spark Plate Tectonics?
• Geologists point to outer space as source of the Earth's mineral riches
• To Find New Planets, Look for the Lithium? [headline wrong --- s/b look for low lithium levels]
• The Moon may have formed in a nuclear explosion
• Does The Earth Harbors a Huge, Natural Nuclear Reactor at its Core --New Discovery Proves "No"
• 2 Billion Year Old Nuclear Reactors Found In Africa
• Earth's Core Has Another Layer, Scientists Claim
• First measurement of magnetic field in Earth's core
• Tiny 3-D images from Stanford and SLAC shed light on origin of Earth's core
• Earth's core rotating faster than rest of the planet but slower than previously believed
• What keeps the Earth cooking?
• Half of Earth's Heat from Radioactive Decay

Thanks Salman.

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[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks Salman. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[hattend]

I could have sworn I was taught this in 7th grade science class.

This is news? Well, it may be to CURRENT 7th graders...

[Wuli]

The entire article is about the heat of the earth, geologically, and is not about the temperature of the biosphere.

When the article is referring to having identified X% of the “earth’s heat”, again it is earth heat in the geologic sense - the heat in the geological features of the earth; and it is not a reference to heat in the biosphere or to any sum of geologic heat and heat in the biosphere.

This article is neutral vis-a-vis the AGW political scam, which is another matter.

[pingman]

Volcano plugs! Yeah, that’s the ticket!

[WePledge]

Ping for later reading. Thanks for the list.