On the earth’s crust, temperatures remain relatively stable throughout the year. Beneath the crust, beneath our feet, however, there is an incredibly hot spot – the core of the earth!
The core of the earth is not only interesting, but also partially vital for life on earth. But how long can the earth’s core stay warm?
Read on to find out.
RELATED: A QUESTION TO UNDERSTAND LIFE ON EARTH
How hot is the center of the earth?
How hot is the core of the earth?
Experts believe that the core of the earth is higher than the surface of the sun – more than 18,032 degrees Fahrenheit (10,000 degrees Celsius).
How did it get so hot in the first place?
One theory is that our solar system consists of a cloud of cold dust particles about 4.5 billion years ago. This cloud of gas and dust is somehow disturbed and begins to collapse as gravity pulls everything together and forms a large rotating disk.
The center of the disk became the sun, and the particles in the outer rings turned into large fiery spheres of gas and molten liquid that cooled and condensed to take solid shape.
At the same time, the surface of the newly formed planet was constantly bombarded by large bodies hitting the planet, and it produced tremendous heat inside it and melted the cosmic dust found there.
When the earth was formed, it was a uniform ball hot stone. Radioactive decay and the remaining heat of the formation of the planet caused this ball to become even hotter. Finally, after about 500 million years, the Earth’s temperature reach the melting point iron – about 1,538 ° Celsius (2800 ° Fahrenheit).
It allowed the earth molten, rocky material to move even faster. Relatively alive material, such as silicates, water and even air, remained close to the planet outside and would become the early mantle and crust. Drops of iron, nickel and others heavy metals engraved to the center of the earth, forming the early core. This process is called planetary differentiation.
Unlike the minerals-rich crust and mantle, the core is thought to consist of metal – specifically iron and nickel. While the inner core is considered to be a solid ball with a radius of approx. 1260 km, with an area temperature of 5,700 K (5,430 ° C; 9,800 ° F); the outer core is thought a liquid layer about 2400 km (1,500 miles) thick and reaches temperatures of 3000 K (2,730 ° C; 4,940 ° F) to 8,000 K (7,730 ° C; 13,940 ° F).
It is suspected that the core is so hot due to the decay of radioactive elements, residual heat due to planetary formation, and heat released as the liquid outer core solidifies near its border with the inner core.
So the core is incredibly hot, but how much longer can it stay hot?
Scientists at the University of Maryland claim that they will be able to answer the question within the next four years.
To drive the tectonic plate motion of the earth and to drive the magnetic field requires a lot of force. The energy is obtained from the center of the earth, but scientists are sure that the nucleus cools down very, very slowly.
What warms the center of the earth?
Two fuels keep the center of the earth warm: primordial energy left over from the formation of the planet and nuclear energy that exists as a result of natural radioactive decay.
The formation of the Earth took place at a time when the solar system was full of energy. During its infancy, meteorites constantly bombarded the forming planet, causing excessive amounts of frictional force. At that time, the earth was full of volcanic activity.
How long will the earth’s core last?
Since its inception, the planet has cooled considerably. However, residual heat from the formation of the earth remains. Although the excessive heat has largely disappeared, another form of heat keeps the mantle and crust of the earth warm.
Of course, radioactive substances exist in large quantities deep in the earth, some of which live around the crust. During the natural decay process of the radioactive material, heat is released.
Scientists know that heat flows from the interior to space at about 44 × 1012 W (TW). What they do not know, however, is how much of the heat is primordial.
The issue is that if the heat of the earth is primarily primordial, it will cool down significantly faster. However, if the heat is due in part to radioactive decay, the earth’s heat will probably last much longer.
Although it sounds quite alarming, it is estimated to be important for cooling the earth’s core. tens of billions of years, or as many as 91 billion years. It’s very long, and in fact, the sun is likely to burn out long before the core – in the environment 5 billion years.
Why is the core temperature of the earth important?
The earth’s core keeps the temperature stable, but more importantly, it holds the earth’s magnetic field in place. The magnetic field of the earth is created by the motion of the outer core of the molten metal.
This massive magnetic field extends into space and holds charged particles in place which are mostly collected from the solar winds.
The fields create an impenetrable barrier in space that prevents the fastest, most energetic electrons from reaching the earth. The fields are known as the Van Allen belts, and this is what enables life to flourish on the surface of the earth. Without the shield of the 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 diverts and traps the solar wind and prevents it from stripping the earth of its atmosphere. Without it, our planet would be barren and lifeless. It is believed that Mars once had a Van Allen belt that also protected it from the sun’s deadly wind. After the core had cooled down, he lost his shield and it now remains a deserted wilderness.
How long will the earth’s fuel last?
Currently, many scientific models can estimate how much fuel is still left to power the Earth’s engines. However, the results differ greatly, making the final conclusion difficult to make. At present, it is unknown how much primordial and radioactive energy remains.
“I’m one of the scientists who created a composite model of the earth and predicted the amount of fuel in the earth today,” said William McDonough, a professor of geology at the University of Maryland.
“We are in a daze. At this point in my career, I do not care if I am right or wrong; i just want to know the answer. However, researchers believe that with modern technological advances, a more accurate prediction can be made.
To determine how much nuclear fuel is left on Earth, the researchers use advanced sensors to detect some of the smallest subatomic particles known to science – geoneutrinos. Geoneutrino particles are the by-products of nuclear reactions that take place in stars, supernovae, black holes and man-made nuclear reactors.
Find out how much fuel there is
The detection of antineutrino particles is an extremely difficult task. Massive detectors the size of a small office building are buried more than a mile into the earth’s crust. The depth may seem too excessive; however, it is necessary to create a shield of cosmic rays that can lead to false positive results.
In operation, the detector can detect antineutrinos when they collide with hydrogen atoms in the device. After the collision, two bright flashes can be detected announcing the event unequivocally.
By counting the number of collisions, scientists can determine the number of uranium and thorium atoms that remain inside our planet.
Unfortunately, the detectors KamLAND in Japan and Borexino in Italy detect only about 16 events per year, which makes the process carefully slow. However, with the prediction of three new detectors coming online in 2020 – the SNO + detector in Canada and the Jinping and JUNO detectors in China – researchers expect more than 500 more tracked events per year.
“Once we collect three years of antineutrino 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 within the earth,” McDonough said.
The Jinping detector in China is over four times larger as all the informants to date. Although the detector is large, the JUNO detector will be a staggering idea 20 times bigger as all existing reporters.
“If we know exactly how much radioactive power there is in the earth, it will tell us about the Earth’s past consumption and its future fuel budget,” McDonough explained.
“By indicating how fast the planet has cooled since its birth, we can estimate how long this fuel will last.”
When JUNO comes online; hopefully in 2021 – the data collected should help scientists like McDonough estimate the time left to cool the earth’s core. Until then, rest assured that any estimates in the future are likely to amount to hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of years.
It is therefore not necessary to make plans soon to move to a new planet.