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Exactly! Plugging this into Wolfram Alpha reveals that Earth's core is worth $3.268×10^19 (US dollars)[1]. For comparison total global wealth is merely US$431T.
by kelseyfrog 4y ago
Exactly! Plugging this into Wolfram Alpha reveals that Earth's core is worth $3.268×10^19 (US dollars)[1]. For comparison total global wealth is merely US$431T.
1. thirty-two quintillion six hundred eighty quadrillion dollars
- willis936 4y agoI bet it's worth more than that in usable electricity if we ran it through a heat exchanger + steam turbine.
- willis936 4y agoAlso, I finally got a workable link. Wolfram really fought me on this one and it shows the dimensionality incorrectly, but the number is correct. 32 trillion trillion dollars (3.2E25). So a hundred times more. Of course no market would hold a price when flooded with supply, but I bet our appetite for usable energy is higher than iron. That's a harder crystal ball estimation to quantify though. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28specific%20heat%20of%20iron%29%20%2A%20%284%2F3%2Api%2A%285100%20km%29%5E3%20%2A%20%28earth%27s%20core%2C%20density%29%20%2A%20%28%28earth%27s%20core%2C%20temperature%29%20-%20%28boiling%20point%20of%20water%29%29%20%2A0.3%20%2A%20%28price%20of%20electricity%20in%20%24%2FJ%29 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28specific%20heat%20of... Hard coded number sanity check: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%280.44%20J%20%2F%20%28g%20%2A%20K%29%29%20%2A%20%284%2F3%2Api%2A%285100%20km%29%5E3%20%2A%20%2810%20million%20g%20%2F%20m%5E3%29%20%2A%20%286000%20C%20-%20100%20C%29%20%2A0.3%20%2A%20%287.4E-6%20%24%2FJ%29 http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%280.44%20J%20%2F%20%28...
- barelyauser 4y agoThese calculations are always bogus. Once mining starts, the price of iron will plummet. The exact same reason some reserves are seldom explored, as the decline in price will render the effort pointless.