Write the Layers of the Earth in Order From Lowest Temperature to Highest Temperature
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4 Layers Of The Earth Made Easy
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While we can't see deep into the Earth, geologists have a variety of neat tricks to create a picture of our Earth's layers.
Just like a kid's jawbreaker, Earth consists of layers that differ in composition and generally get hotter and higher in pressure as you move toward the center of the planet.
The layers of Earth are:
- Crust - 5 to 70 km thick
- Mantle - 2,900 km thick
- Outer Core - 2,200 km thick
- Inner Core - 1,230 to 1,530 km thick
The layers of Earth diagram
Layers Of Earth
1. Crust
Earth's crust is what we walk on every day. It is the thin (relatively) outermost layer that wraps around the Earth and ranges in temperature from 500 to 1,000°C. The crust is split into two types, continental and oceanic. Earth's crust is 5 to 70 km thick.
- Continental crust makes up the land on Earth, it is thicker (35 - 70 km), less dense and mostly made up of the rock granite.
- Oceanic crust makes up most of the ocean, it is thinner (5 - 7 km), denser and mostly made up of the rock basalt.
Fun fact: The crust makes up only 1% of the volume of Earth.
2. Mantle
Just below the crust lies the mantle. The mantle is semi-liquid, sort of like a malleable plastic and makes up 84% of Earth's volume. Earth's mantle is 2,900 km thick and is broken down into 3 main zones, the lithosphere, asthenosphere, and mesosphere.
- The lithosphere is a bit confusing since it makes up both the lower part of the crust and upper part of the mantle. It is about 100 km thick and consists of the 15 major tectonic plates on Earth.
- The asthenosphere is where the mantle turns much more fluid and flows, allowing the above lying tectonic plates to drift across Earth.
- The deepest part of the mantle is the mesosphere where temperatures and pressures get so high that the rock becomes more rigid and doesn't flow as easily.
Fun Fact: The most common mineral in the mantle is olivine, which is also known as peridot when the mineral is gem quality.
3. Outer Core
The outer core lies beneath the mantle. This liquid iron and nickel layer spins as the planet rotates and creates Earth's magnetic field. This magnetic field helps to protect us from the Sun's solar radiation. The outer core is 2,200 km thick and very hot at up to 6,100°C!
Fun Fact: Without the outer core's magnetic field our planet would resemble the barren planet of Mars.
4. Inner Core
The inner core is the deepest layer on Earth. It is also made up of iron and nickel but the pressure is so high that it is no longer liquid. The temperatures in the inner core are as hot as the surface of the sun, about 5505 °C. Earth's inner core is 1,230 to 1,530 km thick.
Fun Fact: Earth's inner core is growing in size by 1mm per year. Eventually, the entire outer core will solidify as part of the inner core. But don't worry, that won't happen for many billions of years.
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Write the Layers of the Earth in Order From Lowest Temperature to Highest Temperature
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/08/26/4-layers-of-the-earth-made-easy/
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