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How much energy is in the core of the Earth? What happens if we cooled the core to the point that it became solid? I’m guessing that would be bad, but is it som
by imgabe 5y ago
How much energy is in the core of the Earth? What happens if we cooled the core to the point that it became solid? I’m guessing that would be bad, but is it something that’s not conceivably possible on any human timescale?
- chii 5y agoIt would take quite a lot to cool the core.
- ComradePhil 5y agoWe can pump heat into the core when it is hotter in the surface. So, it can also work as a battery.
- axiolite 5y ago> We can pump heat into the core when it is hotter in the surface. Were you expecting a massive meteor impact in the near future that the rest of us are unaware of? If not, exactly how were you planning to get enough heat at the surface of the Earth to warm-up the core?
- ComradePhil 5y agoDo you think we drill to the very core to get thermal energy? Well, I have disappointing news for you: The earths radius is 6,371 km; for thermal plants, we dig like 5 km. While the core is 5000 degrees celcius, the point we dig to is more like 150. Concentrated solar power can generate 1000 degree celcius. If we pump this down when we have excess, the area remains hotter than it would otherwise be... letting us use it when the sun sets. This can also work through much longer timescales, like you could dump energy heat down in the summer and harvest it in the winter. The post I was replying to was worried about gradual loss of core heat. This will be minimized if we pump heat in.
- pm90 5y agoNot until humanity becomes a type 2 Civilization. Which seems like at least a 1000 years away.
- kragen 5y ago64.
- Rapzid 5y agoAbout 47TW of internal energy reaches the surface and it could take up to 90 billion years to cool so... No, never with current technology.
- hutzlibu 5y ago"What happens if we cooled the core to the point that it became solid? " That would be very, very bad, but if you look at the numbers, like others pointed out - this is not an issue with our current tech. I would be more worried about earthquakes and co. because deep plate tectonic is not understood well. And when you cool one area significantly, that creates tension in the rock, because of the heat difference to other hotter areas.