Eli5: How does the core of the Earth (or any planets) not cool and still give off tons of heat energy? Where is this energy coming from?

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Eli5: How does the core of the Earth (or any planets) not cool and still give off tons of heat energy? Where is this energy coming from?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Radioactive decay, friction from gravitational influences, and also the earth in in a vacuum.
Although space is cold, there’s not much there that *is* cold too.
Getting rid of heat in space is a bit of an issue as it can only be radiated away, usually you are used to things cooling by conduction which is far better.
Radiators for example, they do radiate heat, but also conduct it into the air around them. Radiators of vehicles particularly need a lot of airflow for them to cool anything.
In space, there’s no icy cold breeze to take the heat away either.

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