ShareEarth's Structure - How Many Licks Does it Take to Get to the Center?
Earth's Core
You
finally reached the center of Earth! Well, not really. It would be impossible
to reach the core of the Earth because of the intense heat and pressure.
The core makes up nearly one-third of the mass of the earth. It's huge!
It's also made up of VERY dense material like Iron and Nickel. That makes
sense doesn't it? The densest material is in the very center. The core
is divided into two regions, the inner core and the outer
core. From earthquake waves, scientists believe the outer core is
a liquid and the inner core is a solid. Scientists hypothesize that the
circulation of the outer core causes the magnetic field around the earth.
This gives us the north pole in its present location. The north pole seems
to switch about every million years. The inner core is made of solid iron
and nickel. Many scientists believe it is kept in the solid state because
of the extreme pressure from the other layers.
