4 ms·
How long is long term though? If I'm reading this right, the highest generator of heat is naturally radioactive thorium, which has a half-life of about 14 billi
by jarin 16y ago
How long is long term though? If I'm reading this right, the highest generator of heat is naturally radioactive thorium, which has a half-life of about 14 billion years. The Earth is only about 4.54 billion years old.
- ars 16y agoNo, thorium is the lowest, not the highest. It decays too slowly to be a large source of heat. Potassium-40 (1.2 billion years) is the highest.
- jarin 16y agoThe article says that thorium releases 3.27×10^-12 Watts of heat per kg of mantle, while potassium releases 1.08×10^-12 Watts. Isn't that more, or do I just fail at basic math?
- ars 16y agoI got my info from here: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/12/10_heat.shtml http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/12/10_heat.... which said potassium. Shrug.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]