geoneurtrinos - new "landmark" discovery

ELUSIVE PARTICLE FOUND
Antineutrinos may help scientists learn chemistry of Earth's interior
San Francisco Chronicle, July 28, 2005

It is the first clear identification of radioactive chemical elements in the Earth's deep interior, and it also enables scientists to understand how they contribute to the Earth's continuous output of heat, he said.

To conduct their work, the scientists used a uniquely powerful particle detector buried beneath a Japanese mountain -- and they are calling the particles they have caught "geoneutrinos."

In the same issue of Nature, William F. McDonough, a noted University of Maryland geologist, hailed the "landmark result."
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The KamLAND instrument has also detected huge quantities of antineutrinos from the sun and from cosmic rays. The source of the geoneutrinos, however, is the uranium and thorium that lie deep within Earth's mantle. Because almost all the particles pass unimpeded through the Earth and on into space, the detector has picked them up at a rate of only one a month.

Even that infrequent detection, however, is enough to provide evidence that uranium and thorium are indeed abundant in the Earth's deepest regions, Gratta said.

Gratta said about half of the Earth's heat represents the primordial temperature that remains as the planet slowly cools from the heat of its formation some 4.5 billion years ago. But the rest must come mostly from the radioactivity of Earth's interior rocks, and this can be measured by measuring the energy spectrum of the antineutrinos, he said.
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Norman Sleep, a Stanford geophysicist who was not involved in the Japanese experiment, called the result "an achievement that will have major implications for understanding how the Earth and planets formed, how continents move by plate tectonics and what drives formation of the mid-ocean ridges. With more and bigger detectors, we should learn much more about the chemistry of the earth's interior."

http://snipurl.com/gkzd

Radioactivity isn't all bad
In fact, I'm very glad
That geoneutrinos
In earth's deep infernos
Keep us warm just like a rad.

From ELUSIVE PARTICLE FOUND

Gratta said about half of the Earth's heat represents the primordial temperature that remains as the planet slowly cools from the heat of its formation some 4.5 billion years ago. But the rest must come mostly from the radioactivity of Earth's interior rocks, and this can be measured by measuring the energy spectrum of the antineutrinos, he said.

there is some evidence that earth's liquid (molten)core
is part of the reason we have poles--not simple norther most and southern most point, but magnetic poles.

the magnetic poles (or rather the magnetic feild) around the earth--deflects the solar 'wind' (a flow of ionized partictals.) and allows earth to retain an atmosphere..

the main difference between earth and mars is our molten core (magnetic field-->atmospheare-->retained water)

The earth is an imperfect magnet--(there are 'anomalies' and incertain places, magnetic compasses will point south, to an anomaly that has a localized stronger influence than true north--the bahama triangle contains one) and its been known to flip (ie north, now a postive attractor, can change and become a negative attractor)

fasinating stuff-- (keep out the limericks, plutarch, and maybe this will become an active interesting thread.. we do have a few geologist around, who have been lurking and not posting.. maybe we can lure them back.)

the thing that always fascinated me about this is the geotemporal aspect of the Earth's poles. the magnetic poles change every so often (epochly speaking) and scientists have located those historical poles by looking at the alignment of iron fragments in the ocean floor, especially at the conjunctions of the continental plates. cool.

there was a nova (PBS) show recently about poles-->magnetism-->magnetic field-->atmosphere-->retained water connections.
and about all the various anomalies there now are on earth. its seemed to scientist as if we are nearing a change of pole period (nearing =2000 to 3000 years)

they wonder 1--how long will it take
2--what happens to earht atmosphere while its going on?

with out the strong influence of poles/magnetic field to deflect the solar wind, we will loose some of the atmosphere, and be bombared with ions, an other particles (now largle confined to the pole area's--aura borialis)

keep out the limericks, plutarch, and maybe this will become an active interesting thread

Good advice, Of Troy. Thanks for the tip. And thanks for your interesting posts.

I saw a bit of documentary on this and one prediction was that the there would be almost constant northern lights but all over the globe. Don't think I'll be here to see it though.