14 DAY TRIAL // According to the latest readings collected by the most sensitive detector of its type ever constructed, Earth does not feature a nuclear reactor at its core. The issue as to whether it did or not was heatedly debated by geologists and geophysicists, but for now their disagreements have been settled.
In the new investigation, two University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMA) physicists used the Borexino neutrino detector under the Italian Alps to look for signs of rare and faint elementary particles called geo-neutrinos.
These particles are tremendously difficult to detect. For all the advanced technology it uses, the Borexino instrument is only capable of identifying about two such particles each month.
Regardless of these difficulties, the UMA team is already obtaining results. For the first time ever, the experts were able to clearly establish the existence of a well-defined signal coming from the planet's core, that can be distinguished from background noise.
But the small number of particles that Borexino detects indicate that our planet does not feature a large nuclear reactor at its core – at least not one as large and powerful as first predicted.
In essence, these geo-neutrinos are a special type of anti-neutrinos. They are produced via the radioactive decay of rubidium, potassium, uranium, and thorium inside very old rocks inside Earth.
Planetary scientists believe that the heat produced through this radioactive decay contributes significantly to the high temperatures that can be found near the planet's core. If that is the case, then this decay plays an important role in a host of phenomena.
These include volcanic activity, plate tectonics and the production of earthquakes. In other words, radioactive elements within Earth could be shaping its surface, as well as its ability to harbor life.
“This is all new information we are receiving from inside the Earth from the geo-neutrino probe,” explains Laura Cadonati, an assistant professor of physics at UMA, quoted by Daily Galaxy.
“Our data are exciting because they open a new frontier. This is the beginning. More work is needed for a detailed understanding of Earth's interior and the source of its heat, with new geo-neutrino detectors above continental and oceanic crust,” she concludes.