Download solid inner core

Layers of the Earth
Characteristics of each of the
Earth’s layers
Warm Up
 What are the names of the layers of
the Earth?
 What do you think it is like in the
center of the Earth?
 How do scientists know about the
center of the Earth if we have never
been there?
Warm Up
1. What is it like in terms of
temperature and pressure inside in
the center of the Earth?
2. How do you think scientists study the
inside of the Earth if they have never
been there?
solid inner
core
Made of iron and nickel
Temperature of 4300° C
liquid outer core
Made of iron and nickel
Temperature of 3700°
C
inner core
Solid mantle
Made of rock-like material,
Temperature about 1500°
C
asthenosphere
The asthenosphere is also called the “plastic-like” mantle
because it flows like partially melted plastic.
rigid mantle
Temperature is
about 870° C
Lithosphere
name for both the crust
and rigid
mantle
rigid mantle
crust
Deepest mine is only about 3 miles into the crust!
Mohorovicic Discontinuity
 Called the Moho
 Named after a Russian geologist
 Mohorovicic discovered that Earthquake
waves sped up as they moved from the crust
into the rigid mantle
 Seismic waves slow down in softer/more
liquid materials, such as the asthenosphere
or outer core
Density and Pressure
 Pressure increases as you move from
the crust to the core due to the
additional material pushing down
 Density also increases from the crust
(about 3 g/cm3) to the core (about
10.7 g/cm3) - lighter materials floated
to the top as the Earth was forming
Warm Up – True or False
1. As you move from core to crust the density of the
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
layers increases.
As depth into the Earth increases, the temperature
also increases.
The inner core is solid because metal does not
melt at that temperature.
Scientists have learned about the Earth’s interior
due to our recent ability to dig to the core.
The core of the Earth is about 4300 degrees
Celsius.
Pressure at the core is so high because of the
weight of all the layers above it.