So I just heard about kola superdeep bore hole which reached 12000 feet approx and their equipment started melting. The bottom of the hole was still roughly 28 km from the mantle but the ocean is only about 8 km from the mantle. (Not sure if my numbers are completely accurate I used random google sources). Anyways I need to know why… I’m losing sleep!
In: Physics
Because of two things, convection and specific heat.
The water at the bottom of the ocean gets heated and hot water is **lighter** than colder water and rises up, colder water from the top replacing it. This is called *convection* and a similar phenomenon occurs in the atmosphere, causing winds.
Secondly, water is very hard to heat. Metals get hot very easily when compared to water and moreover, there’s a million tonnes of water to heat.
TLDR, it’s easy to melt a kilogram of steel than heat a million tonnes of water
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