Researchers are asking what if, as Neil Comins might ask, we supplied more radioactives to Earth's core. I saw this piece yesterday, but posted some other stuff instead that evening; so, I'm looking again at it now. Here's Francis Nemmo and others, "Radiogenic Heating and its Influence on Rocky Planet Dynamos and Habitability".
Just as Earth's sun has more-than-enough mass to form a habitable zone; Earth herself has more than enough
radioactives in the core to drive a dynamo. Too much less and we'd be like Mars: stone dead. But just that bit more and the mantle stays too hot, so also loses the dynamo. Here also the mantle would break out onto the surface and puke up a lot of lava.
Looks like another planet we know!
Our sister planet isn't as dense as Earth and that's not just because Earth's greater mass pulls it in. I ask what is in Venus' smaller core. Did Venus attract heavier elements along with its silicon, than Earth did? Our now-heavier Earth might be "artificially" denser, in starting out lighter but - after differentiating - losing the really light stuff to our Moon when Theia hit us.
Suggest we send a Geiger counter over Venus when prospecting.
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