Global Warming: Impact of Internal Heat Generation

Good question...

By definition...if we stopped using fossil fuel and extraced power geothermally it would stop the polution and actually cool the earth's core (ok...I know... an insignificant amount!) Problem is it's esier said than done. Although we havn't actually tried very hard have we ???

Actually, geothermal (as well as volcanic) activity get no where near the core of the earth. They are both created by friction between plates, especially near subduction zones. The friction between the plates cause part of the plates to melt forming pockets of lava; and lava rises through fissures toward the surface. So, you haven't even seen the power of the core of our planet yet!!!

The accepted belief as to what keeps the core in a molten state is radiation from amounts of uranium and other radioactive materials working together to keep the inside of the Earth melty - grilled cheese, like China Syndrome. As far as is anyone measuring the temperature of the earth... That a DAMN good question!!!

I do know that they found a very deep depression in the Atlantic ocean, and various groups are considering drilling there to reach the magma. But I don't know of any scientific group that routinely shoves a rectal thermometer up the Earth's you-know-what.

One simple measurement would be to correlate surface temperatures with the known thickness of the crust where the temperature was taken. If there were changes in these data, it could possibly indicate that the Earth, itself is heating. Hey! Where's a geologist when you need one!

You have a point about the internal temperature of the planet, I wonder if it has changed.

I know of one company that may be capable of drilling into it. www.mcderrmott.com They have a major oil drilling outfit, J. Ray McDerrmott, I work for one of the divisions of it. I know they do a lot of one of a kind work. If there was a dollar in it for them they would probably take it on. I have seen those giant mobile oil drilling/construction platforms, those things are huge! One of them carried the USS Cole back from the middle east when it was attacked

That opening in the Atlantic is very interesting. I heard it was a green color. I hope it is not the same green stuff they found in "tommyknockers". Has anyone heard of any progress on the depression that they found?

I'll bet that if we let wild fires burn and fill the air with smoke we'd kill enough people and block enough of the sun to end global warming! See, we can solve a problem by just doing nothing!

It's difficult to believe that the molten core of the earth is increasing in temperature, as that would imply either an injection of additional energy, or a chemical reaction due to the stored energy already stored within. In either case a small percentage change either way would doom humanity. When I look at a graph of human population on Earth I get the feeling that we are indeed impacting the surface temperature of the planet.

Without trying to outdo the Sun, the heat in the Earth's core is indeed thermo-nuclear. Perhaps a little too much fissionable material has been concentrated in one particular spot, temporarily revving up the process.

Be thankful you don't live on Venus - current findings regarding the distribution of impact craters on Venus indicate that instead of plate tectonics, Venus simply reaches a point where the crust simply fractures, and submerges all at once into the magma. Then, the top layers of magma cool enough to form a new crust. How's that for a Father's Day present!!!

I guess we should just be glad that the mass of the earth is so large that it takes a lot of energy to change the temp one way or the other.

Only famous Al Gore has enlightened the problem.

Didn't Gore also claim to have "invented" the internet several years back? He's a really smart guy.

Good question. I know we're a planet and not a star but when stars die aren't they supposed to heat up and go through a massive heat increase before finally extinguishing themselves and going stone space cold. Maybe planets do the same and we're just now noticing that we're on a long path to a very hot hell before we finally freeze over.

I have read somewhere that the centre of earth is actually solid and that it is surrounded by the molten layers.

What is thoughts on a solid centre?

I too have read that the centre is solid iron........ so point your magnets away!

I prefer a chewy centre...or caramel with hazelnuts!

Liquid centre is ok too...just don't like those creme centres....

As for "Global Warming" is concerned, the best definition and explanation of its cause and effect is on the United States Environmental Protection Agency's web site. You will also can a discussion of nuclear energy, geothermal energy, and all other sources of energy on the United States Department of Energy web site. It is a lot of reading but worth every bit of your time - a real education on the subject(s).

The question isn't off the wall by today's standards of environmental science. Those standards being low, and geared towards bullying the ignorant into buying into the junk.

Talk to a heating and air conditioning engineer, they can probably tell you the heat output that is standard per person, and then you can multiply that by the world population. Then compare that to the heat absorbed by the earth's surface and atmosphere by the sun and by the molten core of the earth. Then try to find the heat dissipation numbers for the earth at night. "Bio-heat" will be a small number I suspect.

Then while you are at it, see if you can explain why Mars is going thru "global warming" along with us, despite the total absence of evil capitalism, "breeders" and SUV's.

...Mars is going thru "global warming"

looks like the next stop for Al Gore then!

Now just where did you learn that Mars is going thorugh a warming process? One of the suggestions to "terraform" Mars is to start the process of warming, but I doubt that that process has begun yet.

Also, "MARS NEEDS WOMEN!"

Oh dear - you just mentioned the taboo in the first few lines. Look how everyone is avoiding the issue of methane and methane hydrates - the first from ourselves the second from the sea levels. Every newborn is a new polluter and won't stop until gone.That is not to say we should reward Pol Pot et al with posthumous environmental awards, though.

Methane is a stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. As the oceans warm it is likely to release substantial methane hydrates except that as the earth warms and the sea level raises, teh added pressures may hold the sub sea hydrates in check. hehehe.

Methane is a stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

About 23 times stronger, I have heard.

So that's why it was warmer during the dinosaur era, bigger farts. I remember as an astronomy student we discussed the elliptical orbit of our solar system as a whole, and the eventual effect on the distances between earth and the sun. It brings to mind the change in position of the north star, for instance, in a relatively short period. I do remember that the effects of gravity would be impacted by changing the distances, and that the effects of gravity impact the core temperature.

It's not that the global warming debate isn't interesting, it's just the fact that it has been hijacked by politicians, chicken littles, and those who can not accept that we humans have won the evolution battle (for now). Finding objective scientific opinion is near impossible. Might as well debate divinity. The US EPA? Sure, no political influence there...

Just one comment...

"that we humans have won the evolution battle (for now)"

Dude, there are slime molds and bacteria that are a 100 times tougher than us. If we rendered the planet completely poisonous to humans, these guys would thrive just the same. So who's won the evolution battle???

I thought all that tough guy slime didn't change much by way of evolving. It just carries on existing because it's design is so good. Human type things have to evolve and adapt, else they just go extinct. If we survive long enough we might evolve into something perfectly adapted for existing in all environments. I guess we wouldn't call ourselves slime, and loosing fingers etc might not be very nice, but we'd still be here. All that slime might be the result of previous Earth life cycles. slime-people-slime people-slime-people......It might explain all the pyramids/UFOs/everything (OK, I don't know how but it might).

Going slightly back on topic, I wonder how heat flow in the Earth relates to magnetic reversals. My money says that the heat flow goes screwy before a magnetic reversal. I've forgotten what the original question was exactly about, so I'll just shut up.

My monkey says that the heat flow goes screwy before a magnetic reversal..!!!!

I didn't know you had a talking monkey Kris!!!

Oh sorry...miss read...soooo sleeeepy now....

You've been out on a hot tin roof, and your nephew's right. I'm just missunderstood. ner nerr.

Mrs K

I kind of think it's the other way round - simpler life forms evolve much faster and more often than more complex forms of life. Hence why HIV is so hard to fight, and why antibiotics become obsolete.

Remember, evolution does not mean progressing into a "smarter" life form, it means only change and adaptation.

...That's what I started off trying to say. The slime isn't evolving fast (is it ?). Our own crappy design may mean we are a blip in time, whilst history might see the slime as better adapted from the start. The fact that we have to evolve shows our vulnerability. I don't think I said anything was smart about evolving. Our design would be a lot better if it didn't need to evolve. The slime has been here longer than us and with fewer changes, therefor it's 'better'. Well something like that. Anyway, I was talking about slime not viruses. Our design is crap and slime will inherit the Earth. Maybe.

Well, if you were a slimeologist, as many vermin are, your breath would be taken away by the shear number of different slimes there are!!! I don't think they all got here at once - and to make it worse, they keep discovering new types all the time!

Now excuse me while I git up on ma ridin' slime, and make a quick run to the corner store.

"Giddap, Slippery!"

I can't see how you breath at all. It isn't like plants 'cos you have fur in the way.

Anyway - "the shear number of different slimes there are" - you at least admit that the slime take-over is happening. We will eventually return to being soup.

"Mmm, mmm, good!"

Or perhaps canned beans.

Where's Andy Warhol when you need him. 5 minutes my a...

Surely you under estimate Slime's intelligence...

Havn't you heard of 'Justin Slime' the manufacturing stock controller?

Us slimeys gotta stick together.