On the Earth’s crust, temperatures remain relatively constant throughout the year. However, under the crust, beneath our feet is an incredibly warm place – the main part of the earth!
From driving plate tectonics to protecting us from solar radiation, the origin of the Earth is not only interesting, but, in part, important for life on Earth. But how long will the earth be warm?
Read on to find out.
Related: Quest for Understanding Life on Earth
How hot is the center of the earth?
How hot is the main part of the earth?
Experts believe that the Earth’s core temperature is higher than the Sun’s surface – 18,032 degrees Fahrenheit (10,000 degrees Celsius).
How did it get hot in the first place?
One theory is that about a billion. Billion billion years ago, our solar system had clouds of cold dust particles, this cloud of gas and dust somehow disrupting and starting to collapse, as gravity pulled everything together, forming a huge spinning disk.
The center of the disk became the sun, and the particles in the outer rings were turned into large flammable balls of gas and molten-liquid that solidified to cool and solidify.
At the same time, the surface of the newly formed planet was constantly bombarded by large bodies crawling on the earth, generating tremendous heat in its interior, melting the cosmic dust found there.
When the earth was formed, it was a Uniform Hot rock ball. Radioactive decay And the ball became hotter due to the heat remaining from the formation of the planet. Finally, about 500 million years later, the Earth’s temperature Arrived Throat point Iron – about 1,538 els Celsius (2,800 ° F).
This allowed the earth Molten, rocky material to move more quickly. In proportion Delightful Content, such as Silicates, water and air also remained close to the planet The outer and initial covering and crust will form. Drops of iron, nickel and others Heavy metals Gravitated to the center of the earth, forming the initial core. This process is called Differences of planets
Contrary to no MineralRich crust and mantle, the main is believed to be composed almost entirely of metals – in particular, iron and nickel. While the inner core is considered a solid ball with a surrounding radius 760 miles (1,220 km) with surface temperature 5,700 K (5,430 ° C; 9,800 F); Supposed to be the outer core Fluid levels of approximately 2,400 km (1,500 mi) thick and reaching temperatures ranging from 3,000 K (2,730 ° C; 4,940 ° F) to 8,000 K (7,730 ° C; 13,940 ° F).
The core is supposed to be very hot due to The decay of radioactive elements, the heat remaining from the planetary formation and the heat released as the liquid outer core settles near it. Boundary With inner core.
So, the main is incredibly vigorous, but how long will it stay warm?
Scientists at the University of Maryland claim that they will be able to answer this question in the next four years.
The earth’s tectonic plate needs a lot of energy to move and force its magnetic field. Energy is taken from the center of the earth, but scientists are convinced that the core cools very slowly.
What warms the center of the earth?
Keeping the Earth’s center warm is one of the two sources of “fuel”: the atomic energy that survived the planet’s formation and the natural energy that survived due to natural radioactive decay.
The earth was formed at a time when the solar system was full of energy. During his infancy, meteorites constantly bombarded the building planet, causing excessive frictional force. At the time, the Earth was in turmoil from volcanic activity.
How long will the main part of the earth last?
From the beginning, the planet has cooled significantly. However, residual heat remains from the Earth’s formation. Although ancient heat has largely dissolved, another form of heat continues to warm the earth’s crust and crust.
Naturally large amounts of radioactive material exist in the earth, some living around the crust. During the natural decay process of radioactive materials, heat is released.
Scientists know that heat flows from the Earth’s interior into space at about one rate. 44 × 1012 W (TW). What they don’t know, however, is how primitive the heat is.
The point is that if the Earth’s heat is primarily primitive, it will cool significantly faster. However, if the heat is largely due to radioactive decay, then the Earth’s heat will probably last much longer.
While this sounds very worrying, some estimates for the Earth’s basic cooling seem to be taking it. Billions of years, or 91 billion years. It’s too long, and in fact, the sun will probably burn very long before – around the core 5 billion years.
Why is the Earth’s core temperature important?
It keeps the Earth’s core temperature constant, but more importantly, it keeps the Earth’s magnetic field in place. The Earth’s magnetic field is created by the motion of the outer core of molten metal.
This huge magnetic field extends into space and instead contains charged particles that are mostly collected from the solar wind.
Fields create impenetrable barriers in space that prevent the fastest, most energetic electrons from reaching Earth. The fields are known as the Van Allen belt, and they are the ones that bring life to the surface of the earth. Without a magnetic field, the solar wind would strip the earth’s atmosphere Ozone layer Which protects life from harmful ultraviolet radiation.
The collection of charged particles reflects and captures the solar wind, preventing it from falling out of the Earth’s atmosphere. Without it, our planet would be desolate and lifeless. It is believed that at one time Mars had a Van Allen belt that also protected it from the deadly winds of the sun. However, once the core cools, it loses its ieldal, and now it has become a desolate waste.
How long will the earth’s fuel last?
Currently, many scientific models can estimate how much fuel is left to run the earth’s engines. The results, however, are vastly different, making it difficult to draw a final conclusion. At the moment, it is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
“I am one of the scientists who has created a constructive model of the Earth and predicted the amount of fuel inside the Earth today,” said William M. Kadonoff, president of geology at the University of Maryland. “
“We are in the realm of speculation. At this stage of my career, I don’t care if I’m right or wrong, I just want to know the answer. However, researchers believe that with modern technological advances, more accurate predictions can be made.
To determine how much nuclear fuel remains on Earth, researchers use advanced sensors to detect some of the smallest subtomic particles known to science-geonutrinos. Geonutrino particles are by-products of nuclear reactions that occur in stars, supernovae, black holes, and man-made nuclear reactors.
Find out how much fuel is left
Finding antinutrium particles is a very difficult task. A giant detector the size of a small office fee building is buried in the earth’s crust below 0.6 miles (one kilometer). Depth depth feels like overkill; However, it is necessary to create a shield from cosmic rays that can lead to false positives.
In operation, the detector can detect antinotrinos when they collide with hydrogen atoms inside the device. After the collision, two bright flashes can be found, which clearly announce the event.
By calculating the number of collisions, scientists can determine the number of uranium and thorium atoms inside our planet.
Unfortunately, Boraxino detectors in Camland and Italy in Japan detect only about 16 cases each year, slowing down the process. However, with three new detectors expected to go online in 2020 – SNO + detectors in Canada and Jinping and JUNO detectors in China – researchers expect more. 500 more events per year.
“Once we collect three-year antenatutrino data from all five detectors, we are confident that we will develop an accurate fuel gauge for the Earth and calculate the amount of fuel remaining inside the Earth.”
The Jinping detector has run out in China Four times bigger Than all detectors to date. Although the detector is big, the June detector will be a surprise 20 times bigger Than All existing detectors.
McDonough explained, “Knowing exactly how much radioactive power the earth has, we will tell you about the Earth’s consumption rate in the past and its future fuel budget.
“By showing how quickly the Earth has cooled since birth, we can estimate how long this fuel will last.”
When Juno comes online comes; It is hoped that in 2021 – the data collected will help scientists like McDonough to estimate the time remaining to cool the mainland. Until then, rest assured, make sure that any estimates will likely go into millions of years, maybe billions of years in the future.
So, there is no need to make plans to go to any new planet anytime soon.
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