User:Bkilli1/sandboxHW0917

Part 1: 3 existing pages related to topic choice

[A] Inner core
[B] Describes the Earth's inner core composition and its dynamics related to cooling and the magnetic dynamo. [C] The content seems lopsided, with a large section on "dynamics" that contains a lot of speculation. [D] The good: does not shy away from the conflicting ideas about the Earth's core (because not much is known about it), but the bad is that the article needs a better structure and is heavy on the speculation about inner core dynamics while skimping on compositional details. Also, in need of additional citations. [E] Has a standard "structure of the Earth" cutaway view, but that is it. Needs images related to (1) how we know that the inner core is solid due to the travel of seismic waves, and (2) iron meteorites that have been used to infer Earth inner core composition.

[A] Mantle convection
[B] Brief detail on the behavior of mantle convection and its relationship to plate movement. [C] Could use some clarity with regard to the nature of the heat flow such as what percent of heat energy is being used in mantle convection vs. lost in other ways, and could use more discussion about how the convection occurs in such a viscous material. [D] This article is successful in that it is short but packs in a lot of information. However, it could benefit from expansion. [E] Five images used, which is great. It would be nice to see an image comparing/contrasting types of convection. Also, the images could be better-coordinated with the text.

[A] Geothermal gradient
[B] Defines the geothermal gradient, its variation, causes, and results. [C] This is a decently written page, but it is frankly pretty boring and would benefit from more visual appeal. [D] For the most part, the writing flows well and is accessible. More details on how we know what we know about the geothermal gradient would be a nice addition, because as it is, the geothermal gradient is initially presented as a foregone conclusion in the beginning but later discussion in the article makes it clear that it is highly variable. [E] Oof! Despite the decent writing, the visuals are actually pretty terrible on this page, enough to where I almost want to roll up my sleeves today and edit it. I suppose it is cool to see a picture of a geothermal drill machine, never seen one of those. Needs a nice depth/temperature graph that gives actual values and is big enough to see, a snazzier looking Earth cutaway that has temperatures, and maybe a photo of some ancient Roman hot springs since the article discusses geothermal energy use and its history.

Part 2: topic choice

Choice of topic is "Radioactive decay of the Earth", or "Radioactive decay of the Earth's core", something akin to that. Recommendation on the narrowing or expansion of this topic will be appreciated. This could be more broad, discussing the total heat budget of the Earth's interior, for example, not just radioactive decay.

[A] Tentative Outline: 1. Introduction to radioactive decay, its proportion of the Earth's internal heat, and how it relates to Plate Tectonics. 2. Radioactive chemistry and heat. 3. History of our understanding of Earth's radioactive decay and related heat loss. 4. Earth's internal radioactive decay as a driver for plate tectonics.

[B] This page will provide additional details that are not covered in related articles such as those discussed above and will strengthen understanding of the causes of related phenomena such as the geothermal gradient, mantle convection, and plate movement. For the non-specialist, simple analogies between Earth's internal heat loss and a stove burner will be made, and for the specialist hopefully some useful and state-of-the-art journal papers will be referenced on this topic.

[C] The page structure will begin with a very general and accessible introduction that will be expanded with details in sections that follow. A key to making this accessible will be a strong image, perhaps one with a typical Earth cutaway that is customized to show radioactive sources in Earth's interior and relative contributions to Earth's internal heat budget. One nice figure that relates radioactive decay to heat flow to plate tectonics should be sufficient to explain the whole article but additional images related to radioactive decay of an atom will be sourced, and possibly a "lava lake" early Earth image would be nice too.