This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
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Thanks for digging up that old message. You are obviously more organized than I. It's too bad the threads scroll off after only a few days or weeks as there is so much good data accumulated here over the months.
Earth's Top Elements
Message #148901
Doug:- A few weeks ago, I was trying to work out the amount of certain minerals in the earth's surface, and you had given me the specific gravity of the mantle. My computer apparently ate the file. Could you give it out again?
>> Doesn't that plan violate a law of thermodynamics? How could you "pump" heat into rocks without generating more heat? Isn't that like using air conditioners to cool the planet?
Oh that's a *big* difference, and I'm glad you caught that. I thought before that to go from .5 to .3 was *good*. But to go from .5 to .03 is *tremendous*. What a difference; it makes the example even stronger.
>> I've never heard of them performing an analysis of how much excess heat would be radiated by these processes, if everyone had a fusion-powered car-plane, a fusion water/electricity/hydrogen reactor in every neighborhood, and massive fusion plants for industry. There's no free lunch.
>>What's so special about the top fifty feet? Is that were oil comes from? No. Is that where most mineral deposits come from? No. Is that where people of the future will be digging? Probably not. Even if a nifty fusion torch and elemental mass spectrographic extraction system were to…
>> Quartz and feldspars have specific gravities around 2.6-2.7, while >> the darker rock-forming minerals (more iron) tend to be above 3 – >> somewhere in between (say 2.8?) is my guess for the specific gravity >> of common igneous rocks. Thanks for that important missing data. I think I…
Lanny R. Ream: Concerning your comments about the progress we've made on gold processing, I've used your data in my book and would like to quote you as a reference. If you are agreeable, I could make use of your title and professional affiliation (which you can send by direct…
I managed to find the reference of the elemental composition of the earth's crust in Enclycypaedia Britannica under "Elements, Geochemical Distributions of." It lists the parts per million (or percentage) as, for example, Cobolt (25 PPM), Titanium (4,400 PPM), Aluminum (8.1%), etc. Seawater is Gold (1.0x10E-5 PPM) and Silver (3.0x10E-4…
>> . . . up until about the 1950s gold could only be mined if there >> was greater than around a half ounce per ton of rock (+ or – >> depending on the deposit), but now deposits are being mined that >> have less than 0.3 ounces per…
>> I've got 15+ geology books sitting near me and not one of them can >> answer that the question that Bill asked. Thanks for the support. I know I've seen a table like the one I'm asking for somewhere years ago. It's interesting that it's not on page one…
>> Excuse me for being a little abrupt here, but if you are asking this >> type of basic question, just where is the rest of your >> data/information coming from? I can't help but wonder if you really >> have the knowledge to cover the subject. Fair question. I…
>> Numbers I had earlier jotted down from the Encyclopedia Brittanica >> tell me for the continental crust. . . . Do you remember what section you found that in the Brittanica? I have an edition in my office and spent some time without success trying to find the data…
#Earth's Top Elements
Message #146724
What are the top ten *elements* found on the surface of the earth? Is aluminum or silicon the most abundant? By , I mean in the top 50 feet or so, of the land or sea-floor. Also, does anybody have the same data for the sea water? I recall, for…