tgamble

If you've seen LOTR you've seen the trailer for this movie. Is it just me or is the whole premise the most absurd thing since Superman turned back time at the end of the first movie?

I mean, is the core of the earth even spinning? I've never taken any geology but I thought it was solid rock. The whole movie seems to be beyoung absurd.

Just curious to know if I'm right on this or if it's in the realm of plausability. i'd be VERY surprised if it were!

Shadowy Man

I saw this preview with a group of astronomers and we laughed our asses off!!!

The whole thing just looked so absurd! Even more so than Armageddon! Ugh.

Demigawd

Oops, I thought you were speaking of Gandalf and the Balrog fighting way underground. The Core was not previewed at the beginning of The Two Towers in my town (Charlottesville). Mea culpa.

[ December 21, 2002: Message edited by: Demigawd ]</p>

thebeave

Here's the way I remember it from freshman geology about 22 years ago. Hope I got it right. There is an inner core (it's like a solid ball in the very middle of the earth), and its surrounded by an outer core (also roughly spherical with the inner core inside of it). The inner core is solid (rock??), and amazingly, the outer core is thought to be liquid (iron??). I think the outer core does spin, and that's what gives earth its magnetic field. They determined the size and state (liquid or solid) of the cores by mapping the propagation of P & S waves from earthquakes. P waves go thru liquid and solid, while S waves only go through solid. Something like that.

Carlos

Reboot the Earth by detonating a nuke in the core. Riiiight.

I was disappointed by most of the previews I saw. Dumb and Dumberer, the Jim Carrey as God movie, and this. Ugh.

beausoleil

No, solid iron. The outer core is gradually crystallising on the inner core.

Seeker196

What generates most the heat?

Candidates:
1. Radioactive Decay
2. Pressure
3. Friction
4. It was like that originally, and is just gradually cooling. The earth just absorbs(from the Sun) and releases infrared, it doesn't make its own heat.
5.The Elder Gods

I seem to remember it is 1 and 2, mostly 1?

Geothermal Energy:
The heat of the earth increases at a predictable rate no matter where you are once you reach a certain depth.

Why can we just drill really deep, thin holes every where, line them with some kind of insulator for the longest, coldest section, and fill them with water? Can we get the insulation good enough that the water will still be steam when it reaches our turbine at the surface?

Why is this idea impractical? What materials or approaches could make it practical? (geothermal energy from the deep mantle rather than isolated pockets like it is now)

Ruy Lopez

Seeker 196;
The heat of the earth increases at a predictable rate no matter where you are once you reach a certain depth.

Not true. Where there are tectonic or volcanic fractures, temperatures are higher at shallower levels.
Why can we just drill really deep, thin holes every where, line them with some kind of insulator for the longest, coldest section, and fill them with water? Can we get the insulation good enough that the water will still be steam when it reaches our turbine at the surface?

There are limits to drilling technology and COSTS increase GEOMETRICALLY with depth. Depth of 26,000 ft is already commercial nonsense for steam. Ideal is depth range of 8000 to 12,000 ft. There are problems with the steam coming out of the bowels of the earth; noise, toxic and foul gases and effluent disposal. In a commercial venture, these are part of costs.

Why is this idea impractical? What materials or approaches could make it practical? (geothermal energy from the deep mantle rather than isolated pockets like it is now)

You are talking about two depths; FROM THE MANTLE and from shallower isolated pockets. The former is technologically impossible and economic suicide. The latter has been in commercial operation in Italy, Iceland, New Zealand, Philippines, Indonesia and the US.

Seeker196

"The heat of the earth increases at a predictable rate no matter where you are once you reach a certain depth.
Not true. Where there are tectonic or volcanic fractures, temperatures are higher at shallower levels."

I thought such fractures were strictly crust/upper mantle features?

And would almost ANY cost be reasonable for a government (I'm assuming a govmn't) if it gives them power sources that never (10 000s of years) run out?

On effluents, etc: The steam would turn a turbine, then enter a non-insulated condensation chamber, from which the liquid water with its in-solution particulates would just be pumped into the surface ground. Why would this water be too noxious, it would like the Yellowstone water, high in sulphur and iron, you wouldn't want to drink it, but I'd have no problem just dumping it.

26 000:I hadn't realized how far down the necessary temperature to boil water was, I thought that even at 10 000 feet a small super-insulated tube would boil. I wouldn't consider drilling ten thousand feet an impossible notion.

Oh well, there's always GIANT ORBITAL MIRRORS...I can dream can't I...?

thebeave

How about employing the millions of unemployed and having them rub a bunch of cats backwards to generate electicity?