Ask Science
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
view the rest of the comments
Uh, I'll find one, and edit. It confused the shit out of Victorian scientists, because they had a good guess how old the Earth is from biology, and had thermodynamics, but it was telling them volcanism shouldn't still be happening.
Edit:
Wikipedia mentions it in the geothermal article, but the source is a textbook, and who has time and/or money for that? There's also the article on the age of the Earth. Ah, here we go, in the article on Earth's internal heat budget. Somebody also linked a paper on it elsewhere in this thread.
These give slightly different numbers from each other, but the gist is that radioisotopes (Uranium, Thorium and Potassium being the primordial ones) account for at least half.
Oh interesting. It turns out it's more like a demonically possesed hot potato, that is still cooling down but also gets warmer from demonic activity under the earth.
More like a hot banana, going by the potassium.
I actually had no idea radioactive potassium was primordial until I read this. That's neat.