Seriously thoughtful What Heats the Earth's Core?

[Salgueiros]

Ok, i get your point kennyc.

I think you two took different roads to reach the same village i suspect ardeegee took the longer, more scenic one.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Salgueiros

Ok, i get your point kennyc.

I think you two took different roads to reach the same village i suspect ardeegee took the longer, more scenic one.

I don't think we disagree about what is heating the Earth's core.

My objection was with that link he posted which was tangential and really only a disproof of sorts that the heating was coming from the initial formation.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I know you'll come back again as say you're right, cause you always have to be right, but you are not in this point.

Well excuse the hell out of me for not posting the exact words you wanted me to use in answering your question. The "creationism" part of it was irrelevant and I do not grasp why you are clinging to it-- the point was that the cause of the continued hotness of the Earth's core was found to be because of radioactive decay. The only reason I posted that link was because it explained it rather clearly, not because of the connections to debunking creationism. WHAT HEATS THE EARTH'S CORE IS RADIOACTIVE DECAY. That's what I've been saying all along, and YES, I AM right on that point. More relevant, the actual scientists who determine such things-- who I pointed to-- are right on that point.

[happy_terd]

Very interesting stuff Kenny!!!



-----------------
Off topic comment in spoiler. See how thoughtful I am?

Spoiler:

So it isn't Ted Kennedy?

[kennyc]

You're excused.
I don't know why you posted that link but it was peripheral to the entire topic OTHER THAN it somewhat negated the idea that the heat was from the initial formation. It explained nothing about the heating of the Earth other than mentioning radiation in passing as the reason. It did not provide any information on how radiation might be responsible or for how much.

In addition you claimed that NONE of the heating was from the initial formation which is blatantly false according to all the references I've consulted. The original link and the Scientific American Link discuss the three primary items responsible for the heating, one of them being heat from the initial formation.


Oh and the initial link I provided explained the heat sources so again I'm not sure why you went off on the Kelvin thing about calculating the age of the Earth.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I don't know why you posted that link but it was peripheral to the entire topic OTHER THAN it somewhat negated the idea that the heat was from the initial formation.

I posted that link because it was the best I could come up with in a short time exploring the issue rather than saying "go buy a paper copy of book x or book y that I have in my library that addresses the subject." I checked-- the books I would have referred to don't have ebook versions. There may be more in depth, focused authoritative web sites on the issue, I simply do not know the links to them.

In addition you claimed that NONE of the heating was from the initial formation which is blatantly false according to all the references I've consulted.

Yes, I did say "all" heat was from radioactive decay in my initial post of at 11:02 PM-- but I revised that to say "most" in my edit of 11:09 PM. You must have read the reply in the 7 minutes between the initial post and the edit. Give the post (#10) another look.

[kennyc]

Thanks. I didn't notice you had edited it.

In any case this thread topic was just something I ran across in researching the origin of the Earth for the article I'm working on. I thought it interesting and felt others might also which is why I started/posted it.

Other than the outstanding T.K. question I think we're done. I'm gonna leave that to Recluse and H_T.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Other than the outstanding T.K. question I think we're done.

No idea what the T.K. question is, but on a similar note to the side issue of geothermal power production, you might find these interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_t...rgy_conversion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

No idea what the T.K. question is, but on a similar note to the side issue of geothermal power production, you might find these interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_t...rgy_conversion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower

Thank you for those....very interesting and fodder for the writing idea factory..

(P.S. T.K. - Ted Kennedy)

[ardeegee]

BTW, my first knowledge of the "solar uplift tower" concept was a proposal I read in the late 80s or early 90s suggesting that a string of them should be built on land along the Florida cost to degrade hurricanes-- the electricity (and clean water) generated was advertised as a fringe benefit. Here's a similar (but not quite the same) proposal:

http://www.greenidealive.org/110599/...ne-killer.html

[thinkpad]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I do know there is a lot of work in Iceland to tap into the thermal emissions (as they sit on the mid-Atlantic ridge and have a lot of hotsprings etc.) I know some research is going on ... maybe we need to fund more...

It's quite amazing with the hotsprings in Iceland. We were there in the middle of the winter bathing outside in the Blue lagoon. A really bizarre but enjoyable experience. They've certainly found a workable way to tap into the geothermal heat.

[kennyc]

Thanks. The issue with any alternative energy is that oil/gasoline is so ingrained in our systems....

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

It's quite amazing with the hotsprings in Iceland. We were there in the middle of the winter bathing outside in the Blue lagoon. A really bizarre but enjoyable experience. They've certainly found a workable way to tap into the geothermal heat.

Yep, if we could duplicate that all over the globe!

[kennyc]

Just ran across this....Slight topic drift but about geothermal:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1005121720.htm

http://smu.edu/smunews/geothermal/do...mperatures.asp

[thinkpad]

Interesting that you can use the already drilled holes for oil to make a better Geothermal mapping. The only problem with geothermal energy is that it's still depletable. I do not know to what extent. It's certainly a plus that it's green energy, much better than oil and coal.