EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE

ENGR. JOHNMAR M. FORTES

TEACHER
HEAT
Heat is fundamentally defined as a form of The two sources of heat:
energy transfer that occurs due to a 1. Internal Heating
temperature difference between two objects or Primarily from residual heat of
substances. This energy transfer typically formation/primordial heat and a significant
happens from a region of higher temperature to generated by the process of radioactive
a region of lower temperature. decay.

2. External Heating
Solar Radiation: The Sun is the primary
external heat source for Earth. It emits
energy in the form of electromagnetic
radiation, including visible light and heat.
Primordial Heat:
The Earth's internal heat source resulting
from residual energy from its initial
formation. During the accretionary phase of
the solar system, gravitational compression
and kinetic energy were converted into
heat, contributing to the Earth's overall
thermal budget.
Radioactive Decay
Radioactive isotopes present in the Earth's
crust and mantle, such as uranium-238,
uranium-235, thorium-232, and potassium-
40, undergo radioactive decay, releasing
heat in the process. This radioactive heat is
a significant contributor to the Earth's
internal energy.
Solar Radiation:
The Sun is the primary external source of
heat for the Earth. Solar radiation, in the
form of electromagnetic waves, provides the
energy that warms the Earth's surface. The
sun's rays penetrate the atmosphere,
warming the land, oceans, and atmosphere.
While the heat energy produced inside
Earth is enormous, it’s some 5,000 times
less powerful than what Earth receives from
the sun.
The sun’s heat drives the weather and
ultimately causes erosion. While Earth’s
heat makes mountains – the sun’s energy
tears them down again, bit by bit.
Importance of Earth’s Internal Heat.
1. Its important in geological processes such as movement of
tectonic plates and the flow of magma near the surface of
the earth.
2. Earth’s internal heat contributes to the energy budget,
specifically the energy available on Earth that drives
system processes in the geosphere.
3. The Earth's internal heat is instrumental in the formation of
valuable mineral resources.
4. Utilizing the Earth's internal heat as a natural laboratory,
scientists can study the behavior of materials under
extreme temperature and pressure conditions.
5. The Earth's internal heat, in conjunction with solar
radiation, influences climate patterns and atmospheric
circulation.
Methods of heat transfer.
1. Conduction
Conduction is the transfer of heat through
direct contact between particles in a solid
or stationary fluid. In a material, higher
temperature particles transfer kinetic
energy to adjacent lower temperature
particles through collisions, propagating
heat.
2. Convection
In a material, higher temperature particles
transfer kinetic energy to adjacent lower
temperature particles through collisions,
propagating heat. Warmer, less dense fluid
rises, displacing cooler, denser fluid which
then becomes heated and rises, creating a
continuous circulation of fluid and heat
transfer.
3. Radiation
Radiation is the transfer of heat through
electromagnetic waves, such as infrared
radiation. Only occurs in fluids (liquids and
gases), driven by density differences due to
temperature variations.
The most efficient method of heat transfer is
conduction. This mode of heat transfer occurs
when there is a temperature gradient across a
body. In this case, the energy is transferred
from a high temperature region to low
temperature region due to random molecular
motion (diffusion).
METHODS OF HEAT TRANSFER
PRIMODIAL HEAT

Primordial heat is the internal heat energy accumulated by

dissipation in a planet during its first few million years of evolution.

This primordial heat of Earth is still present in the core because our
large Earth was unable to dissipate it quickly when it was created
and now this heat has settled. It can only dissipate through the
crust, but since the plates act as a blanket and the mantle is not a
particularly good transporter, the heat is here to stay for a long
time.
 WHY IS THE EARTH'S CORE
SOLID DESPITE HAVING THE
HIGHEST TEMPERATURE?
The outer core, about 2,200 kilometers (1,367
miles) thick, is mostly composed of liquid iron
and nickel. The NiFe alloy of the outer core is
very hot, between 4,500° and 5,500° Celsius
(8,132° and 9,932° Fahrenheit).
Inner Core The inner core is a hot, dense ball of
(mostly) iron. It has a radius of about 1,220
kilometers (758 miles). Temperature in the inner
core is about 6000° Celsius. The pressure is
nearly 3.6 million atmosphere (atm).
The Earth's core is solid due to the
overwhelming pressure at such depths, despite
the incredibly high temperatures.
Even at extraordinarily high temperatures, the
immense pressure in the Earth's core can force
materials to remain in a solid state. This is
known as the solid-state stability of materials
under high pressure, regardless of temperature.
The pressure suppresses the normal phase
transitions, keeping the dominant materials, like
iron and nickel, in a solid state. Understanding
the behavior of materials under extreme
pressure-temperature conditions is crucial for
comprehending the Earth's structure and
dynamics.
GEOTHERMAL GRADIENT

Earth's Temperature increases with respect to depth but

not at a uniform level.

As a general rule, the crust temperature rises with depth

due to the heat flow from the much hotter mantle; away
from tectonic plate boundaries, temperature rises in
about 25–30 °C/km (72–87 °F/mi) of depth near the
surface in most of the world.

However, in some cases the temperature may drop with

increasing depth, especially near the surface, a
phenomenon known as inverse or negative geothermal
gradient.
GEOTHERMAL GRADIENT

The temperature gradient within the lithosphere

varies depending on the tectonic setting.
Gradients are lowest in the central parts of the
continents, higher where the plates collide and
higher still at the boundaries where plates are
moving away from each other
CONVECTION CURRENT
A current in a fluid that results from convection. Convection currents transfer heat from one place
to another by mass motion of a fluid such as water, air or molten rock. The heat transfer function of
convection currents drives the earth’s ocean currents, atmospheric weather and geology.
RADIOACTIVE HEAT
Produced during radioactive decay when the
unstable atoms produce a large quantity of energy
. Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay,
radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear
disintegration) is the process by which an
unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by
radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is
considered radioactive.

Half Life - the time required for any specified

property (e.g. the concentration of a substance in
the body) to decrease by half.
Example problem:

Selenium-83 has a half-life of 25.0 minutes. How

many minutes would it take for a 10.0 mg
sample to decay and only have 1.25 mg of it
remain?

a.) 75 minutes

b.) 75 days

c.) 75 seconds

d.) 75 hours

Correct Answer- (a.) 75 minutes


HALF-LIFE PROBLEMS
1. What is the half-life of a radioactive isotope if
a 500.0g sample decays to 62.5g in 24.3 hours?
8.1 hours
2. What is the half-life of Polonium-214 if, after
820 seconds, a 1.0g sample decays to
0.03125g?
164 seconds
3. Iodine-131 has a half-life of 8 days. What is
the mass of this nuclide that remains when 40 g
of it decays in 48 hours?
0.6250 g
4. A sample of Pd-100 decayed to a mass of 30
mg in 16 days. Given that the half-life of Pd is 4
days, calculate the initial mass of the sample.
480 g
5. Given that 50.0 g of C-14 decayed in 4 half-
lives, how much of this isotope is left? C-14
Half-Life = 5730 Years.
3.125 g
6. A certain radioisotope has a half-life of 9
days. What percentage of an initial mass of this
isotope remains after 25 days?
14.58%
7. A radioactive source has a half-life of 80 s.
How long will it take for 5/6 of the source to
decay?
206.797 seconds
8. The activity of a radioactive source decreased
from 6000 per minute to 500 counts per minute
in 10 hours. Calculate the half-life of the
radioactive source.
12.58%