Has anyone heard of this theory?

http://www.nuclearplanet.com/

It was published in Discover Magazine last month. Herndon makes a good argument, it seems to be at least as stong as the accepted theory of an iron and nickel core.
Opinions?

The earth *is* a nuclear reactor, of sorts: radioactive elements in the core break down and give off the heat that (among other things) makes volcanoes happen. There are even places in the earth's crust where rich veins of uranium are undergoing subcritical fission reactions. Iron and nickel would still be the principal components of the core.

Silas

From the website (the nuclear geophysics link):
"Herndon suggested that the inner core of the Earth consists, not of partially crystallized iron metal, but of nickel silicide.
... Herndon demonstrated the feasibility of a nuclear fission reactor at the center of the Earth as the energy source for the
geomagnetic field and described a natural mechanism that would lead to variations in energy production and thus variations in the
geomagnetic field."

Thus, Herndon's argument is opposing the iron/nickel core model.

The poor sap.

P.S. where are the neutrinos his theory would predict?

Silas

I read the Discovery article, and there is a point in the article where I was just about convinced that he might have something, and then I changed my mind. On p.42, the article describes how he made some computations about helium 3 evidence in Hawaiian basalts. It's quite a reach anyway to say that that lava reflects information about the inner core of the Earth, but one other researcher, Hatten Yoder, is quoted as being excited about it.

However, Yoder then says he'd like Herndon to do the same calculations for neon. "If he gets the right ratio there as well, that would be another big nail." The article says "Herndon is working on that calculation now." Oops, we know what that means. He's done the calculation and it don't match, and he's attacking it with a crowbar.

His website has a link to some Galileo quotes. Example: "I have never understood, Your Excellency, why it is that every one of the studies I have published in order to please or to serve other people has aroused in some men a certain perverse urge to detract, steal, or depreciate that modicum of merit which I thought I had earned, if not for my work, at least for its intention."

His crank index is rising, regardless of the worth of his theories.

Just for the record, this topic has been discussed before in this thread:

http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...c=1462&forum=1

__________________
...And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped. --Sir Bedevere