Earth complexity more than predicted? We cannot drill a well to the center of the Earth and check what is really there, scientists are exploring the inner core mainly by seismic waves. Earthquake-induced vibrations pass through different materials at different speeds and analysis of these changes.
So Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences investigated, that the Earth’s inner core is more complex than expected. The research shows that it is a completely rigid body.
Sheer waves show that there is seismic vibrations. This indicates that the core is a solid body. However, if these waves pass through it more slowly than through a ball of hard iron, then it is a little softer.
It appears to exist as a superionic state of matter, somewhere between a liquid and a solid.In a new study, scientists conducted temperature and pressure results at the center of the Earth to understand what other types of matter might be there. And found that certain iron alloys can form a superionic state.
Earth’s core consists of a liquid outer core (yellow) surrounding an inner core (brighter yellow sphere). New computer simulations suggest that, instead of being normally solid, the inner core may be superionic, a state of matter that has properties of both a solid and liquid.
In other words, Computer simulations described in two studies suggest that the material in Earth’s inner core, which includes iron and other, lighter elements, may be in a “superionic” state. That means that while the iron stays put, as in a solid, the lighter elements flow like a liquid.
The authors also calculated how fast shear waves should move through the superionic alloys, and the data obtained coincided with the results of observations.
However, the research is going on and it will certainly take a lot of time to confirm the statistics.
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