What if global warming is being caused by the earth's core heating up?

Question

What if global warming is being caused by the earth's core heating up? Would the ground become too hot to stand on? What would happen then?

Answer 1

I like your question.
You are thinking out of the box. Your mind is considering all possibilities and coming up wioth your own theories. I wish more and more people were like you - inquisative - and not afraid to go out on a limb and pose the question.
Good for you!
Now for the science...
The earth's core would only begin to heat up if there were some kind of chemical shift - some kind of new combustion that caused the heat. With the heat from the earth escaping through the atmosphere int ospace, and the surface of the earth absorbing the heat fomr the sun, our planet stays at a fairly balanced temperature range. For the most part, the earth's temperature is not governed by heat in the core, but by radiation from the sun - or lack thereof.
If the core began to heat up, pressure would begin to build. And if pressure began to build, earthquakes and volcanoes would be a constant. The earth's crust would thin out because of the heat and fractures would be more prone to erupt with new lava flows. It would lok like one of Saturns moons - or the planet that the Dark Sith Lord came from. :-)
So, the core is so well insulated that the surface of the earth could completely freeze over, and it's temperature wouldn't change. Conversely, the earth could become one large desert, and the same would be true.
No, it can't be the core, because the earth's crust is too deep for the thermal energy to penetrate.

Now about Global Warming...
It's time to stop ebating and start to combat what is occuring. Switzerland is wrapping it's glaciers in white tarps. Come on, people... call it what you will, but hundred year old glaciers are disappearing in decades.
Personally, I think it's a regular cycle that we cannot recognize because we haven't been around long enough. But isn't less greenhouse gas emissions a good thing? Isn;t less oil consumption a good thing? Isn;t less chemicals released in the environment a good thing?
Seriously, lets take som steps in ALL directions and try to preserve our environment. Arguing about it means that less is actually done.

Thanks for you question!

Answer 2

We would know if this were the case because the temperature gradient of the earth's crust is measured on a frequent basis. Oil companies and other drilling operations routinely measure bottom hole temperatures of wells that are several miles deep. This information is useful and necessary for both oil exploration and the operation of oil wells. It is also used by geothermal drillers who study where the best locations will be for utilizing geothermal power.

Here is a map of the geothermal gradient for North America:
http://www.smu.edu/geothermal/2004NAMap/2004NAmap.htm

Yes, if it were the case that the earth's core was heating up, then we would notice changes in climate, and many cooler weather plants would die after a few decades or centuries of warming because of warmer soil. Snow would melt more quickly, worldwide. Volcanic activity would probably increase as well. However, this is a very unlikely and probably impossible scenario, because the earth's core is heated by radioactive decay that is a very predictable and regular process. Not only is radioactive decay very gradual, it is also a process that slowly declines as more and more of the radioactive material decays to stable isotopes. Eventually the earth's core will stop heating itself and freeze. But you are correct in realizing that some of the heat on this planet comes from the planet itself.

What is incorrect here is the statement that earth's core has heat leftover from formation- this is not the source of the heat in the earth's core. It is from radioactive decay, which is much the same as nuclear energy.

Answer 3

I happen to like this question a lot and I was reading some of the answers and I wasn't expecting to read what I did - thought it was pretty damn hilarious!

As for global warming? I've slightly on the side with the rest of the gang that says there is no global warming.

I believe there's a thing called global shift, but actual warming, nope, sorry, it doesn't float with me. The world isn't getting hotter; how can scientists say the earth has gotten warmer; I don't believe the technical expertise of meteorology existed a 1000 years ago, so no one from that time can defend, or offend, global warming.

Answer 4

That's a good theory, but that's not what is causing global warming. Global warming is being caused by the rising levels of co2 in the air.

As for your theory if the core was heating up I'd imagine that we would see a lot of spontaneous volcanoes and such springing up all around us.

I don't know if it would be too hot to stand on. That's definitely something to research.

Answer 5

Wow. Lady, the earth's core doesn't heat up. It's that simple. The core is a chunk of hot metal that controls the magnetic field around earth. It doesn't influence global climate, as portrayed in the movie The Core. Global Warming is a result of the human-influenced change in climate due to release of CO2 and CFCs. It's not the core.

Answer 6

The Earth's core can't heat up without some source of heat being applied to it. It doesn't generate heat like a furnace, it just has its heat left over from when the Earth formed.

However, someone told me that if the Earth's crust couldn't radiate heat into space, the heat from the mantle would melt the surface. So, we're standing on a crust of rock that happens to be "frozen" only because of the coldness of space.

Answer 7

It's NOT, for starters.
Global warming is being caused by too much energy from infrared radiation being trapped within the earth's atmosphere by too much carbon dioxide.
The earth's core is slowly cooling off as its supply of radiactive elements is slowly depleted over time.
Please take a nice, full array of in-depth science classes. Then, after that, it would be a good time to start coming up with theories of your own.

Answer 8

There is no global warming--gawd--yeah--the opera show--that where to get all the answers--lmao--listen to liberals--Oh yeah--that works all the time.

There is no global warming. Period.

You can't find a real scientist anywhere in the world who can look you in the eye and, without hesitation, without clarification, without saying, kinda, mighta, sorta, if, and or but...say "yes, global warming is with us."

There is no evidence whatsoever to support such claims. Anyone who tells you that scientific research shows warming trends - be they teachers, news casters, Congressmen, Senators, Vice Presidents or Presidents - is wrong. There is no global warming.

Scientific research through U.S. Government satellite and balloon measurements shows that the temperature is actually cooling - very slightly - .037 degrees Celsius.

A little research into modern-day temperature trends bears this out. For example, in 1936 the Midwest of the United States experienced 49 consecutive days of temperatures over 90 degrees. There were another 49 consecutive days in 1955. But in 1992 there was only one day over 90 degrees and in 1997 only 5 days.

Because of modern science and improved equipment, this "cooling" trend has been most accurately documented over the past 18 years. Ironically, that's the same period of time the hysteria has grown over dire warnings of "warming."

Changes in global temperatures are natural. There is no proof that temperature is affected by anything that man has done.

In fact, recent severe weather has been directly attributed to a natural phenomenon that occurs every so often called El Nino. It causes ocean temperatures to rise as tropical trade winds actually reverse for a time.

The resulting temperature changes cause severe storms, flooding and even draught on every continent on earth.

It's completely natural. El Nino has been wreaking its havoc across the globe since long before man appeared.

How about the reports that the polar ice cap is melting?

Well, yes it is. In fact, it has been for about a million years or so. We are at the end of the ice age in which ice covered most of North American and Northern Europe.

There's at least one environmentalist, named Al Gore, who is panicking over the possibility that we may soon lose Glacier National Park in Montana because the ice is melting.

One hates to tell him that we've already lost the glacier that used to cover the whole country.

Perhaps he'll want to start working for new regulations from the Interior Department to begin immediately restoring this lost historical environmental treasure. Re-establishing a sheet of ice covering the entire continent would certainly serve to stop mining, timber cutting and urban sprawl.

The truth is, someday humans may be able to take tropical vacations at the North Pole - and it will be perfectly natural.

Yet our world is being flooded with the dire predictions of Global Warming.

We are being warned of killer heat waves, vast flooding and the spread of tropical diseases. Ocean levels are rising, they say. America's coast lines are doomed, they tell us. Hurricanes and tornadoes have already become more violent, we are warned. Floods and droughts have begun to ravage the nation, they cry.

Any change in temperatures, or an excessive storm or extended flooding is looked upon as a sure sign that environmental Armageddon is upon us. Diabolical environmentalists are using the natural El Nino phenomenon to whip people into a Global Warming hysteria.

Answer 9

IF the earth's core was heating up, then yes, someday the ground would be too hot to walk on. We'd be dead long before that happened though because plant life would die first and we'd starve after we cannibalized each other to extinction.

OR...We'd build our cities on stilts and live up in the air and construct huge vent shafts to space that would cool the air and circulate it down through our floating cities. We'd all pee over the edge and try to cool the ground off until it gradually cooled the surface enough to let us walk on it again.

Answer 10

That is unlikely. More likely would be more of the core reaching the surface, but I'm not aware there are enough new volcanoes to account for that. There are other more likely scenarios (besides CO2) for global warming than that.