Re: Shrinking Earth


"Al Zenner" <azen@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns9722602F695D3zsp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> "chriso" <someone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
> news:iPBkf.11054$ea6.6251@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
>
>> Hi Don,
>
>> I had an idea that might explain an expanding earth.
>> Probably been thought of before though.
>
>> Radioactive elements in the earths core could fission
>> and split into 2 elements, thus occupying twice the space.
>
>> Over geological time the mass of the earth would remain the
>> same but the volume it occupied would increase markedly.
>
> Fission releases energy. That energy isn't "free". The first to
> figure out the process was Lise Meitner.
>
> How much heat would have to be released if the earth's volume
> doubled due to fission and how much appropriate nuclear material
> would have to have constituted the core?
>
>

I have no experience in scientific argument and perhaps this is part of
the problem- some readers of Usenet expect scientific standards of proof
for the presentation of a hypothesis in an arena which is more akin to
Friday night at the fights or an evening at the local pub (well u know
what I mean). I'm sorry, I can't calculate the Joules released or the
mass of fissionable material required.

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/fliers/96mgg04.html

the above page gives anyone the opportunity to look at the age of earths
crust. I got there by reading an earlier Usenet post who has written an
article on bio geography, which is written to the scientific worlds
exacting standards.

A casual scan of the above map indicates that there is a lot of movement
going on one way or another and in a relatively recent time frame.

Wegener got dumped on from a great height and went to Greenland to make
his name crossing an icy waste, yet his bravery and effrontery to
challenge accepted scientific consensus was ultimately proved correct.
Its hard to believe now, but at one time not so long ago, the consensus
was that the continents had never and never would move.

The problem as I see it is that the mechanism proposed as the engine for
plate tectonics remains unconvincing.

Radioactivity is involved in creating the Earth's molten core, perhaps we
have the largest fission reactor in the world at the centre of the earth.
But then again what would I know.

This ng does have some working (and non working) geologists, it also has
its outliers. Doesn't make them any less human or incapable of expressing
an opinion, even if it does get a bit hot in here sometimes.

my2c,

chriso





.

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