3 ms·
Those "millions of years" comments always seem rather out of place, considering that the Earth naturally contains enough radioactive elements that literally ke
by yongjik 5y ago
Those "millions of years" comments always seem rather out of place, considering that the Earth naturally contains enough radioactive elements that literally kept it warm for 4.6 billion years. (And they come with several billion years of half-lives.)
When you see volcanoes, earthquakes, and hot springs in action, that's the power of radiation. All of it.
- fsh 5y agoThis is a very bad comparison. Radioactive heating is only significant because the earth is very large. Soil has a very low background activity of a few hundred Bq/kg. High-level nuclear waste has 2 TBq/kg after 100 years.
- GekkePrutser 5y agoIt's only radiation power in the way of the sun being our main heat source which slows our planet's cooling. Which is of course one huge fusion reactor. And if you were outside the protection of our magnetosphere and atmosphere its radiation would actually be pretty dangerous even at this distance. The earth's core is just still hot from when it was formed. It's not being heated by an internal nuclear reaction.