An Estimate of the Earth's Age from Therman Considerations, Assuming Initial Conditions

Abstract

Geochronology can tell us much about cosmology, but it can be no better than its data. Other methods of dating the Earth exist, but all are subject to error of one form or another. Calculation of the Earth's age from thermal considerations has been out of vogue since the discovery of radioactivity, but, as I shall show, this need not be the case. The mathematics involved in calculating the age of the Earth from thermal considerations is not difficult, but it is tedious. Fortunately, the use of computers has progressed sufficiently to make this problem inconsequential. The work that follows is the result of increased knowledge and improved techniques and shows that a thermal history of the Earth is possible.