Earth core how do we know

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to develop a plan to tunnel to the center of Earth. You have your whole life to complete this mission. It will not be easy. New technologies will have to be invented along the way. It may take years and years and the work of thousands of people. Resources are not an issue.

Let your imagination run wild and put together a plan that outlines your approach and what you will need to accomplish this daunting task. What new technologies will you need? How will you go about reaching Earth's core? How will you protect those working on the project from the dangers that lie below Earth's surface?

Have fun brainstorming about this seemingly-impossible task! Did you get it? Test your knowledge. Wonder Words soil rock lava wave core water wells volcanic surface specialized mantle nickel pressure approximately maddeningly inaccessible ingenious seismic boundaries Take the Wonder Word Challenge.

Join the Discussion. Peyton Condon May 19, How is earths core so hot as in did the sun have something to do with it. Kinsley Conrad Dec 3, Dec 10, That's some great thinking, Kinsley! Thanks for sharing! May 20, Hi, Peyton-- The last paragraph of this Wonder might help. Mar 27, Landon Mar 13, Mar 13, Oct 1, Jones Dec 27, Jan 2, Animaegirl Jun 26, Then what about life on other planets? Pls describe on this topic.

I love this wondropoli s. Sep 25, Adam Sep 25, I was talking to animaegirl but thank you anyways. Jun 28, Jan 31, Awesome, Hunter! Thanks for letting us know you liked this one! Bukie Jan 27, Jan 27, You got it, Bukie!

Great to hear that you enjoyed this Wonder. Thanks for pumping us up! Jacob Aug 19, Aug 19, Jun 29, Megan Apr 12, How did the earth be made how did all the animals get on the earth did plants make them what did the Earth start from. Apr 12, Jessica Mar 15, Mar 17, Jan 20, The results were published today online by the journal Science. The crust thickness averages about 18 miles 30 kilometers under the continents, but is only about 3 miles 5 kilometers under the oceans.

It is light and brittle and can break. In fact it's fractured into more than a dozen major plates and several minor ones. It is where most earthquakes originate. The mantle is more flexible - it flows instead of fractures. It extends down to about 1, miles 2, kilometers below the surface. Edit your newsletter preferences. You can unsubscribe at any time. While the most obvious contender for the inner core is a solid nickel-iron alloy, it is possible for an extremely dense plasma — the state of matter found in a star — to have similar properties.

One of the difficulties here is knowing how materials behave in such extreme environments. In this remarkable device, the points of two diamonds, just a fraction of a millimetre across, are squeezed together.

When metallic samples are crushed and heated to core-like conditions, the results suggest a crystalline solid in the centre of the Earth. The levels of heat, pressure and radioactivity one of the main sources of internal heating are so high that even if we could bore through over 6,km of rock and metal, a probe would be unable to survive.

Compared with reaching the core, travelling to the outer reaches of the Solar System is trivial. Longitudinal waves — These waves consist of a series of compressions and relaxations in the direction of travel, like a slinky spring given a push along its length.

Examples include sound and P-waves. Refraction — When a wave hits the boundary between two materials, travelling at an angle, it changes direction. Light waves, for instance, are refracted when passing between water and air, making a straight object appear bent. Seismology — The study of earthquakes. Torsion balance — This apparatus consists of a bar, suspended from a frame by a twisty fibre.

As the bar moves sideways, it applies a force to the fibre — the further it twists, the greater the force. Iron meteorites collected after their fall to Earth are pretty solid clues that the element is plentiful in the Universe.

Zuber says iron seems to be favored planetary building block. It's the heaviest element made during stellar fusion, so planets form with high concentrations of it. Zuber and colleagues also have studied the insides of other planets to learn about Earth's core.

While they can't get good seismic data from Mercury or Venus, researchers have found ways to make the comparison. In research published in the journal Science this year, Zuber and her colleagues at MIT examined Mercury's core by using the planet's magnetic field to their advantage.

Without at least a partially liquid core, convection wouldn't occur, making it impossible for a planet to form a magnetic field. These same processes happen inside the Earth, too. The energy released by the swirling liquid within our own planet's outer core allows Earth to create a self-sustaining, solar-wind-blocking shield.

Without it, life on this planet wouldn't exist.