Els Heat

THE EARTH’S INTERNAL HEAT
Heat energy plays a vital role in our planet. It surface cools from the outside but the core is
is one of the extreme factors in what makes the still made of extremely hot material.
world liveable. If you think of a volcano, you
know Earth must be hot inside. Our planet's On the other hand, the thermal energy released
internal heat shifts continents, creates as a result of spontaneous nuclear
mountains, and produces earthquakes, but disintegration is called Radiogenic Heat. It
where does all this heat inside the earth involves the disintegration of natural
originate? radioactive elements inside the earth – like
Uranium, Thorium and Potassium. Uranium is
Before we proceed to the sources of heat, let’s a special kind of element because when it
have a short review of layers of the earth. decays, heat (radiogenic) is produced.
Basically, Planet Earth has 3 main layers, these Estimated at 47 terawatts (TW), the flow of
are Crust, Mantle and Core. The Crust of the heat from Earth’s interior to the surface and it
earth is a very thin layer when compared to the comes from two main sources in equal
3 other layers. The Mantle is the largest layer amounts: the radiogenic heat produced by the
of the earth with estimated 1800 miles thick. radioactive decay of isotopes in the mantle and
The mantle is composed of very hot dense rock crust, and the primordial heat left over from the
called magma, because of the high formation of the Earth. Radioactive elements
temperatures with the Mantle, the rock is kept exist everywhere on earth in a fairly significant
in a semi-liquefied state. The Outer Core is concentration. Without the process of
composed of liquefied metals such as nickel radioactive decay, there would be fewer
and iron. It is kept in it liquefied state because volcanoes and earthquakes – and less
of the immense heat in this layer. The Inner formation of earth’s vast mountain ranges.
Core is also composed of metals however they
are not kept in a liquefied state. It is believed Sources of Heat and Heat Transfer
that the temperature and pressure at depth is so
great that the metals are squeezed tightly Both sources of heat whether primordial or
together restricting movement, so much that radiogenic undergo heat transfer and it plays an
the particles have to vibrated in place almost important role to the continuous changes and
like a solid structure. development of our planet. In connection,
another part of this module describes the heat
Sources of heat in our planet can be identified transfer in the Earth. Three processes can
as Primordial and Radiogenic heat. During the transfer heat: conduction, convection, and
early formation of the Earth, the internal heat radiation.
energy that gradually gathered together by
means of dispersion in the planet during its few Conduction processes happen in the earth’s
million years of evolution is called Primordial surface and it directs the thermal settings in
heat. The major contribution of this internal almost entire solid portions of the Earth and
heat is the accretional energy – the energy plays a very important role in the lithosphere.
deposited during the early formation of a One of the three main ways of heat transfer is
planet. The core is a storage of primordial heat conduction. Technically, it can be defined as
that originates from times of accretion when the process by which heat energy is transmitted
kinetic energy of colliding particles was through collisions between neighboring atoms
transformed into thermal energy. This heat is or molecules. Conduction carries heat from the
constantly lost to the outer silicate layers of the Earth's core and radiation from the Sun to the
mantle and crust of the earth through Earth's surface. When the atmosphere in
convection and conduction. In addition, the normal temperature contacts with the warm
heat of the core takes tens of thousands of surfaces of the land, it transfer thermal energy,
years to reach the surface of the earth. Today, then it will heats up the rest of the air through
the surface of the earth is made of a cold rigid convection.
rock since 4.5 billion years ago, the earth’s
THE EARTH’S INTERNAL HEAT
Convection is the transfer of heat by the
movement of mass, and it is a more effective
mode of heat transport in the Earth than pure
conduction. Convection dominates the thermal
conditions in zones with significant amounts of
fluids (molten rocks) and thus governs the heat
transport in the fluid outer core and the mantle.
In geological time scale, due to the tremendous
temperature, the mantle acts like a viscous
fluid. In convection current, the mantle of the
earth moves slowly because of transfer of heat
from the interior of the earth up to the surface.
This results to the movement of tectonic plates.
Hot materials are added at the edges of a plate
and then it cools. At those edges, it becomes
dense by its exposure from the heat and sinks
into the earth at an ocean trench. This starts the
formation of volcanoes.
Radiation is the least important mode of heat

transport in the Earth. The process of heat
exchange between the Sun and the Earth,
through radiation, controls the temperatures at
the Earth's surface. Inside the Earth, radiation
is significant only in the hottest parts of the
core and the lower mantle. When the land and
water become warm in summer, it emits long –
wavelength infrared radiation that is readily
absorbed by the atmosphere. This continues
during night time too. Convection in the air
then spreads out the thermal energy throughout
the atmosphere.

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THE EARTH’S INTERNAL HEAT

Radiation is the least important mode of heat

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