Why is Earths Center So Hot?
Why is the center of the Earth so hot? It’s a combination of radioactivity (the radioactive materials in the Earth generate heat) and the residual heat from the formation of the Earth. When all of the matter that created the Earth fell together, it picked up kinetic energy falling in. When it stopped at the proto-Earth, the kinetic energy was turned into heat. The Earth hasn’t cooled yet. The Moon, being much smaller, has had time to cool and probably has a solid core. Dr. Eric Christian What about…? I’m an astrophysicist, not a geologist. I got my answer from long ago geology courses and research on the web. It’s a standard part of geological theory that radioactivity is part of the heating process. See, for example, this Scientific American article. Why is there not an abundance of fission products observed in materials emitted from either volcanoes or sea-borne vents? Or why are there not more fission products as one penetrates the Earth’s crust into deep mines? There IS increased
