The Enigma 1,800 Miles Below Us

New York Times ^ | May 28, 2012 | Natalie Angier

[JerseyanExile]

As if the inside story of our planet weren’t already the ultimate potboiler, a host of new findings has just turned the heat up past Stygian.

Geologists have long known that Earth’s core, some 1,800 miles beneath our feet, is a dense, chemically doped ball of iron roughly the size of Mars and every bit as alien. It’s a place where pressures bear down with the weight of 3.5 million atmospheres, like 3.5 million skies falling at once on your head, and where temperatures reach 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit — as hot as the surface of the Sun. It’s a place where the term “ironclad agreement” has no meaning, since iron can’t even agree with itself on what form to take. It’s a fluid, it’s a solid, it’s twisting and spiraling like liquid confetti.

Now it turns out that existing models of the core, for all their drama, may not be dramatic enough. Reporting recently in the journal Nature, Dario Alfè of University College London and his colleagues presented evidence that iron in the outer layers of the core is frittering away heat through the wasteful process called conduction at two to three times the rate of previous estimates.

The theoretical consequences of this discrepancy are far-reaching. The scientists say something else must be going on in Earth’s depths to account for the missing thermal energy in their calculations. They and others offer these possibilities:

¶ The core holds a much bigger stash of radioactive material than anyone had suspected, and its decay is giving off heat.

¶ The iron of the innermost core is solidifying at a startlingly fast clip and releasing the latent heat of crystallization in the process.

[ArrogantBustard]

Why can't they just admit that they just don't know anything for sure and all they can do is make wild guesses . . . I mean . . . theories

Well ...

Best reason I can think of is that would be a lie. It would be as big and as heinous a lie as claiming to know everything beyond a doubt.

Just curious ... Do you know anyone who actually does science or engineering for a living?

[driftdiver]

“Except your analogy is flawed, since we’re talking about mostly static pressure, not dynamic pressure i.e. the kind that would result from motion, falling, a collision, etc. “

So are you saying Chicken Little was right to be so concerned?

[Gamecock]

From the article: “From what I can tell, people are excited” by the report, Dr. Alfè said."

I'm certainly all spun up over this!

[rpierce]

Is that “small entrance” at the bottom of the illustration the hole through which they give the Earth its Enigma?

lol! Post of the day! (God I love FR.)

That one literally made me bust out laughing. Good one.

[Graewoulf]

Thanks for this thread.

[Rebelbase]

“Geologists have long known that Earth’s core, some 1,800 miles beneath our feet, is a dense, chemically doped ball of iron roughly the size of Mars and every bit as alien. It’s a place where pressures bear down with the weight of 3.5 million atmospheres, like 3.5 million skies falling at once on your head, and where temperatures reach 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit — as hot as the surface of the Sun. It’s a place where the term “ironclad agreement” has no meaning, since iron can’t even agree with itself on what form to take. It’s a fluid, it’s a solid, it’s twisting and spiraling like liquid confetti.”

AKA, the Teddy Kennedy grease fire.

[Jack Hammer]

So... I guess that means we’re all gonna die....?

[SunkenCiv]

May be of interest.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks JerseyanExile.

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[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Or maybe Hell is really down there, and it’s emitting all that heat, because it’s gonna stay hot forever!