Physicists isolate neutrinos from Earth's mantle for first time
Heat energy flows from Earth's interior and out through Earth's surface at a rate of 47 terawatts. How much of that heat is generated by the decay of radioactive elements and how much is left over from Earth's formation remains unknown. This new detection of antineutrinos from Earth's mantle (as opposed to Earth's crust) could eventually lead to an answer to the heat budget problem.
Article:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2015/aug/14/physicists-isolate-neutrinos-from-earths-mantle-for-first-time
Image:
Physicists installing the Borexino detector. Some of the detector's many photomultiplier tubes are visible in the cupola above the workers. These detect the flashes of light created when antineutrinos collide with the detector. (Courtesy: INFN)
#physics #neutrinos #research
I wonder how long it will take for the Earth to lose all its heat, although maybe the suns heat counteracts that energy loss to some extent
ReplyDeleteso we are bombarded with insane amounts of energy from within the earth and we are bombarded with another insane amount of energy from the sun every single second and then we still have earth's natural stuff like wind, waves, etc..
ReplyDeleteYet we still use fossil fuels (mostly) for our day to day life. It really seems like we're wasting (or not using) energy that is just... there... I wonder when we finally get rid of this fossil fuel dependency and start using energy that is just there. That would probably make us a "Type 1 civilisation" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale
The only part that confused me is that they said "a rate of 47 terawatts" but no measure of time was specified. Is that 47 terawatts per hour, or day?
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming it's 47 terawatts continuously.
Either way, that's still pretty cool!
...or should I say, hot!
Jared Ribic This page is talking about nuclear power, but it answers your question nicely.
ReplyDeleteThe reason you're confused is that many people use the terms incorrectly, particularly the popular press. It's sad that one of the technologies where this is most prevalent is the renewable energy, where we are actually making enormous strides in provision worldwide...