What's Inside the Earth
By Joe Jarvis
Crust
Temperature range from negative 110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Depth is o miles down. The crust is 5-70 km thick. Sub layers are oceanic and continental crust
Fun facts:
- water covers 71% of earths crust
- the crust makes up 1% of earths volume
- it is made up of basalt (oceanic crust) and granite (continental crust)
Mantle
temperature: temps range form about 500-900 degrees Fahrenheit
The Depth is around 5-70 km. It is around 2,900 km. thick. The mantle's Sub layers are the Lithosphere, the asthenosphere and the lower mantle
Fun facts:
- the mantle consists of 84% of earths volume
- the mantles heat and pressure makes diamonds
- there are "water rocks" in the mantle that could make up all of the water on the crust
- the mantle is made out of Iron, Magnesium, Aluminum, Silicon, and Oxygen
Core
Temperature's are around Outer core- 3,700 degrees C Inner core 6,000 degrees C. Depth is about Outer core- 1,800 to 3,200 miles below the crust Inner core- 3,200 to 3,960 miles below the crust. the thickness is around Outer core- 1,400 miles thick Inner core- 760 miles thick
Fun facts:
- made of iron and nickle
- the inner core is under so much pressure that it is solid (it is under 5 million pounds of pressure)
- both core's added together make up 15% of earths volme
- the core is hot because heat from when the planet formed, which has not all been lost, frictional heating, caused by denser core material sinking to the center of the planet; and heat from the decay of radioactive elements
convection in the mantle
convection in the mantle happens when molten rock (magma) heats up and cools down. The hot magma is less dense so it goes upwards. The colder magma travels back down being more dense. Then, it gets heated up by the core and repeats the cycle. convection is also what causes earthquakes and under sea trenches
Layers of the Earth
citations
Colorado university "the earths inside" The Earths Inner Layers 10/7/14
<http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2900/homepages/Marianne.Hogan/inside.html>
planet earth "earths inner layers" 10/20/14
follow up questions
Here are some questions I still have: If tectonic plates move 1 or 2 inches per. year, how can they create earthquakes? Can and will the core expand? What would happen if convection currents stopped.