Rise of sea levels is 'the greatest lie ever told'

Discussion in 'Earth Science' started by Mind Over Matter, Nov 10, 2011.

  1. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    Why would it shrink?
     
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  3. Ophiolite Valued Senior Member

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    Cooling.
     
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  5. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    You could be right. Since the Earth's liquid outer core and mantle has been heated by radioactive molecules changing from one element to another there will come a time when the cooling rates exceeds the rate of heating.
    Has that point been passed?

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  7. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    I looked it up and found quite a good answer on a Naked Scientist site. It may not be the definitive answer but it is a start.

    http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/latest-questions/question/3031/

    "By far the biggest player is what we call radiogenic heating.
    The Earth is effectively a giant nuclear reactor. There are particles in the Earth’s core and throughout the mantle which are radioactive. When things decay radioactively they produce heat. The vast majority of the Earth’s energy is coming from the radioactive decay of these components, and they include things like thorium and also potassium.
    Interestingly, there was always a big quandary: if potassium is a source of all this heat, why is there so little of it present in the mantle and outer surface of the Earth? It’s a light element so we should find it in abundance at the surface. Well, it turns out that under very high pressures, potassium can form an interesting alloy with iron (a much heavier element). Of course, the iron is all in the core of the Earth, so what scientists think has happened is that the potassium has sunk with the iron down into the core of the Earth, and it’s down there in the middle, decaying, producing a lot of the heat that we have warming up the Earth today.
    Where is all that heat going and is the Earth cooling down? Not really, it’s staying about the same temperature. Geological estimates are that the Earth loses heat at a rate of about 50 terawatts. That’s about 50,000 1 gigawatt power stations worth of heat loss, i.e. if power stations pump out power at a rate of 1 gigawatt then you’d need about 50,000 of them – that’s how fast the Earth is losing heat through the oceans, continental surfaces, volcanoes and so on, and that means that those processes inside the Earth that I’ve mentioned must be producing heat energy at a similar rate to balance things out because the Earth isn’t cooling down that much."

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  8. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    Where are the referrences to back this up or is this just your personal theory?
     
  9. Trippy ALEA IACTA EST Staff Member

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    It's generally advantageous that if you're going to respond to a post, that you quote the post to which you are responding.
     
  10. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    Can posts be deleted. I was sure I had a link but I can't see the post I was referring to now. First mistake! It was about Gobal cooling? Sorry.
     
  11. Trippy ALEA IACTA EST Staff Member

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    Yes, posts can be deleted, by me (as the earth science moderator) for example.

    And yes, there was a post I deleted recently.
     
  12. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    Good subject for a new thread.
    Why don't you start one?
    I think at the moment it would have to go under Fringe, but it is not unbelievable.
     
  13. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    OK might do that. For it was something else to consider and it makes the effect of Gobal Warming even worse!

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  14. adoucette Caca Occurs Valued Senior Member

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    No, because it doesn't change over the timeframes we are interested in and because the Sun provides about 4,500 times more energy to the surface of the Earth than comes from the Earth's interior.
     
  15. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    You missing the point. A small change in the temperature of the whole Earth will have a major affect on it's volume and surface area, hence oceans may bunch up (great scientific word).

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  16. Lee Registered Member

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    You dont get it, of course.

    There is an article on the submersion of small micronesian islands due to sea level rise. Although the sea is actually rising and even London is in trouble, this is not the issue. Small mindedness is the issue. There was a "big bang" and there will come a time when the universe disappears like a dream, or dust in the wind. In the interviening billions of years the only constant is change. Seashells on the top of the Andes, the disappearance of Pompeii in the pyroclastic cloud, artifacts from sunken cities in the Mediterranian sea, the great abanconed cities in the Iran/Afganistan deserts. Our sun will go nove, then become a white dwarf. The earth will exist on the fringe of it photosphere for some millions of years as it disolves into the cosmic fire.
    Anyone who thinks that everything around them is not changing just doesnt get it. Whether its the shape of the earth, global temperature change, rising water, imminent strike of an asteroid on the earth, time winding down. Its all change. Any other perception is moronic. Period.
     
  17. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    "Let's get out of here" I say!
     
  18. adoucette Caca Occurs Valued Senior Member

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    The rate of heat convection through the Earth's crust to the surface isn't changing (well not in the time frames we are discussing) so that small amount of heat (on a global scale) remains a constant.

    In case you were wondering, on an area the size of a football field, it would be the heat energy of about 5 light bulbs.
     
  19. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    Yes there would be a lot of football fields to cover the Earth. If the radioactive material starts to decline which it must unless there is some sort of restoration process yet to be discovered, with time the heating must diminish.
    The Sun beating down on the surface would not have any effect on the deep core/mantle temperatures which are dependent on nuclear fission to keep it hot.
     
  20. adoucette Caca Occurs Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, but compared to the energy from the sun, those 5 light bulbs are insignificant, and more importantly, aren't changing.

    Yes, in many hundreds of millions to probably billions of years.
    Over the times we are discussing (couple of hundred years at most) no change at all.


    No kidding.
     
  21. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    What are you kidding about? you saying it does affect core temperature, or no it doesn't?
    Someone told us about the intensity of the incoming radiation and it was significant but most of that is radiated away over night so the net effect is minimal.
     
  22. adoucette Caca Occurs Valued Senior Member

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    It has no effect on the core temperature.

    Well yes, it is (thankfully or we would quickly roast), but what is retained s sufficient to keep our oceans mainly water and our global air temperatures what they are.

    The heat reaching the surfcace from the core is miniscule in comparison, is steady and essentially has no measurable effect on our climate.

    Arthur
     
  23. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    It wasn't the climate I was concerned with but the depth of the oceans.
     

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