MANGALDAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, MATHEMATICS

WHY THE EARTH`S INTERIOR

IS HOT?
BY: JHOLAS S. CARRERA
XI- STEM 1
THE HEAT INSIDE
EARTH MOVES
CONTINENTS,
EARTH`S INTERIOR
BUILDS
MOUNTAINS AND
CAUSES
• Earth’s Core is the very hot, very dense center of
EARTHQUAKES. our planet. The ball-shaped core lies beneath the
WHERE DOES ALL
THIS HEAT COME cool, brittle crust and the mostly-solid mantle. The core is
FROM?
found about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) below Earth’s
IF YOU THINK
ABOUT A surface, and has a radius of about 3,485 kilometers
VOLCANO, YOU
KNOW EARTH (2,165 miles).
MUST BE HOT
INSIDE. THE HEAT
INSIDE EARTH • The Mantle is the second layer of the Earth. It is the
MOVES
CONTINENTS, biggest and takes up 84 percent of the Earth. In this
BUILDS
MOUNTAINS AND section you will learn and more about how hot the mantle
CAUSES
EARTHQUAKES. is, what it is made of, and someinteresting facts about
WHERE DOES ALL
THIS HEAT INSIDE the Mantle.
EARTH COME
FROM?
“CRUST” DESCRIBES THE
OUTERMOST SHELL OF
A TERRESTRIAL PLANET.
OUR PLANET’S THIN, 40-KILOMETER
(25-MILE) DEEP CRUST—JUST 1% OF
EARTH’S MASS—CONTAINS ALL
KNOWN LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE.

• The interior of Earth is very hot (the

temperature of the core reaches
more than 5,000 degrees Celsius) for
three reasons:
• Pressure
• The heat from when the planet
formed
• The heat from the decay of
radioactive elements
• DID YOU KNOW THAT……
• Earth has been losing heat since
it formed, billions of years ago.
But it’s producing almost as much
heat as it’s losing. The process
by which Earth makes heat is
called RADIOACTIVE
DECAY. It involves the
disintegration of natural
radioactive elements inside
Earth – like uranium, for
example. Uranium is a special
kind of element because when it
decays, heat is produced. It’s this
heat that keeps Earth from
cooling off completely.
EARTH WAS HOT WHEN IT FORMED.
A LOT OF EARTH’S HEAT IS LEFTOVER FROM WHEN OUR
PLANET FORMED, FOUR-AND-A-HALF BILLION YEARS AGO.
EARTH IS THOUGHT TO HAVE ARISEN FROM A CLOUD OF
GAS AND DUST IN SPACE. SOLID PARTICLES, CALLED
“PLANETESIMALS” CONDENSED OUT OF THE CLOUD.
THEY’RE THOUGHT TO HAVE STUCK TOGETHER AND CREATED
THE EARLY EARTH. BOMBARDING PLANETESIMALS HEATED
EARTH TO A MOLTEN STATE.
HOW HOT IS IT INSIDE EARTH? NO ONE HAS COME
CLOSE TO EXPLORING EARTH’S INTERIOR DIRECTLY. SO
NOT ALL GEOPHYSICISTS AGREE ON HOW HOT IT IS AT
EARTH’S CORE. BUT THE RATE OF TRAVEL OF WAVES FROM
EARTHQUAKES – CALLED “SEISMIC WAVES” – TELLS
SCIENTISTS A LOT ABOUT WHAT MATERIALS MAKE UP THE
PLANET. SEISMIC DATA ALSO REVEAL WHETHER THESE
MATERIALS ARE LIQUID, SOLID OR PARTIALLY SOLID.
MEANWHILE, LABORATORY DATA INDICATE AT WHAT
TEMPERATURES AND PRESSURES THE MATERIALS INSIDE
EARTH SHOULD BEGIN TO MELT.
REASONS WHY THE EARTH’S
INTERIOR IS HOT:

PRESSURE
AS YOU GO DEEPER ON THE EARTH THE
PRESSURE INCREASES. AS THE
PRESSURE INCREASES SO TOO DOES THE
TEMPERATURE.

WHY DOES THE INCREASE IN PRESSURE

CAUSE THE TEMPERATURE TO INCREASE?
THE MOLECULES MOVING REALLY SLOW.
AS WE INCREASE THE PRESSURE, THE
MOLECULES SPEED UP A LITTLE.
REMEMBER: THE FASTER THE MOLECULE
SPEED THE HIGHER THE TEMPERATURE.

THE PRESSURE IS THE LEAST IMPORTANT

REASON FOR WHY THE INTERIOR OF
EARTH IS HOT. PRESSURE DOES CAUSE
TEMPERATURE INCREASE, BUT NOT HUGE
AMOUNTS.
 THE HEAT FROM WHEN THE PLANET FORMED
THE EARTH WAS FORMED BY THE PROCESS OF ACCRETION. AFTER THE CREATION OF OUR
SOLAR SYSTEM, METEORITES GRAVITATIONALLY ATTRACTED EACH OTHER AND FORMED
BIGGER OBJECTS, WHICH ATTRACTED BIGGER MASSES, UNTIL OUR PLANETS REACH THEIR
CURRENT SIZE. THIS PROCESS ACCUMULATED A LOT OF HEAT; WHEN TWO OBJECTS
COLLIDE, HEAT IS GENERATED. THAT IS WHY YOUR HANDS WILL GET HOT WHEN YOU CLAP
THEM FOR TOO LONG, OR A NAIL GETS VERY HOT WHEN YOU HAMMER IT FOR A LONG TIME.
THIS HEAT HAS NOT DISSIPATED TOTALLY AND REPRESENTS ABOUT 10% OF THE TOTAL HEAT
INSIDE THE EARTH.

THE HEAT FROM THE DECAY OF RADIOACTIVE ELEMENT

THE MAIN SOURCE OF HEAT IS THE DECAY OF RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS. RADIOACTIVE DECAY
IS A NATURAL PROCESS; UNSTABLE ELEMENTS LIKE 238U (URANIUM) OR 40K (POTASSIUM)
STABILISE WITH TIME AND PRODUCE WHAT WE CALL DAUGHTER PRODUCTS: 206P (LEAD)
FOR URANIUM AND 40AR (ARGON) FOR POTASSIUM. THIS PROCESS PRODUCES HEAT,
WHICH REPRESENTS ABOUT 90% OF THE TOTAL HEAT INSIDE THE EARTH.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!!
MS. ESTELLA P. EDEN
EARTH SCIEENE TEACHER