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The main reasons the Earth's interior is hot are:

  • The Earths crust is a good insulator, so interior heat is lost only slowly.
  • The Earth was very hot when it formed (when the pieces of stuff came together to form the Earth). Much of this heat is still there today.
  • The interior material is molten (liquid). They move around creating friction between these elements. Friction causes heat, so this motion of stuff in the liquid center results in heat from friction.
  • When radioactive materials decay they release heat. There are such elements constantly decaying today.

The sources of heat combined with the Earth's crust keeping much of this heat from escaping is why the Earth's interior is hot.

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