Al Gore's Science Illiteracy

by Mark Whittington

"...'cause The Interior of the Earth is Extremely Hot, Several Million Degrees..."

Al Gore was on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien recently and was attempting to explain the utility of geothermal energy, which taps the Earth's heat to generate energy. In so doing, former Vice President Gore proved to be an ignoramus.

According to the transcript, as quoted by Hot Air's Ed Morrissey:

"It definitely is, and it's a relatively new one. People think about geothermal energy – when they think about it at all – in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees aces there are these incredibly hot rocks, , and the crust of the earth is hot ..."

The problem is that Al Gore got the temperature of the interior of the Earth wrong by several orders of magnitude. The actual temperature of the Earth's interior is upwards to six thousand degrees Celsius. "Several million degrees" would describe the temperature of the interior of the Sun.

In other words, if Al Gore were right, the Earth would not be a planet but a star.

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November 24, 2009

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