Fill in the Blanks EARTH’S INTERNAL HEATOnline version Fill in the blanks Direction: Fill all the blanks by clicking the word on the left side. Read the paragraphs carefully and choose the appropriate word. You have only 180 seconds to accomplish the task. by Earth Science 1 accretion radioactive internal increased extraterrestial Lead budget Processes gravitational catastrophic The Earth's heat source provides the energy for our dynamic planet , supplying it with the driving force for plate - tectonic motion , and for on - going events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions . Major that have Contributed to Earth ? s Internal Heat . First , the Impact which proto - planet Earth would have grown over time from a barrage of extraterrestrial impacts , increasing its mass with each bombardment . As the proto - planet grew in size its gravitational field would have attracted even more objects its surface . Second , contraction which in the early stages of planetary accretion , the earth was much less compact than it is today . The process led to an increasingly greater gravitational attraction , forcing the Earth to contract into a smaller volume . Increased compaction resulted in the conversion of gravitational energy into heat energy , much like a bicycle pump heats up due to the compression of air inside it . Heat conducts very slowly through rock , so that the rapid build - up of this heat source within the Earth was not accommodated by an equally rapid loss of heat through the surface . Third , decay which refers to the spontaneous process of breaking down an atomic nucleus by releasing particles and energy . Example : unstable isotope Uranium - 238 , for example , will slowly decay to - 206 . Last , the internal heat which drives most of the geological processes on Earth . This measures the flow of thermal energy coming from the core , passing through the mantle , and up to the atmosphere , which is mainly due to the mantle convection . This , however , is counteracted by the solar radiation .
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