The Interior of the Earth

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The Interior of the Earth

• By Crystal Mason

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The Layers of the Earth
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The Crust

• The crust is a very thin layer of earth when
  compared to the other layers. It is only five to
  twenty-five miles thick on. a continental plate
  and three to five miles on an ocean plate. The
  crust is divided into twelve plates that float on
  the mantle. The temperature varies at the surface
  of the crust along with air temperature but at
  the bottom of the crust the temperature can reach
  1,600 degrees Fahrenheit.

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The Plates of the Crust

• The earths crust is made of twelve plates. These
  plates float around on the mantles flowing rock.
  Sometimes, the plates get caught on the mantle
  and they build pressure. When the plate builds so
  much pressure that the rock breaks an earthquake
  occurs.

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The Mohorovicic Discontinuity

• The Mohorovicic Discontinuity is the boundary
  between the crust and the mantle. It is named
  after Andrija Mohorovicic who in 1909 discovered
  that earthquake waves near the surface of the
  earth moved slower than those that passed through
  the interior of the earth. Mohorovicic stated
  that this was because the crust of the earth is
  made up of less dense material and the mantle is
  much more dense than the crust. Since the mantle
  is much more dense the waves move faster through
  the mantle rock.

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The Mantle

• The mantle is the thickest layer of the earth. It
  is 1,800 miles thick. It is made up of very hot
  and dense rock under the weight of the crust. The
  temperature varies from 1,600 degrees at the top
  to 4,000 degrees at the bottom. The rock moves
  around because of convection currents.

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The Gutenberg Discontinuity

• Beno Gutenberg claimed that the outer core of the
  earth was made up of liquid because secondary
  waves could not pass through it and were
  sometimes bounced off. The boundary between the
  mantle and the outer core is called the Gutenberg
  Discontinuity to honor his discovery.

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The Outer Core

• The outer core is about 1,400 miles thick. The
  temperature ranges from 4,000 to 9,000 degrees.
  It is composed of melted nickel and iron.

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The Inner Core

• The inner core is also made up of iron and
  nickel. The metal are under 45,000,000 pounds of
  pressure per square inch. Under this great amount
  of pressure the metal becomes a solid even though
  the temperature can reach up to 9,000 degrees.
  The pressure of the core is three million times
  that of the air pressure at sea level on the
  earths surface.

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Apple Analogy
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The Apple

• An apple can be used visually to describe the
  layers of the earth. The skin of the apple is
  like the crust of the earth. The middle soft part
  is used to describe the mantle. The outer edge of
  the apple core is like the outer core of the
  earth and the inner part of the apple core is
  like the inner core of the earth.

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Links to Websites
Enchanted Learning
Content Center
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Links to Online Worksheets
Earth Diagram Worksheet
Outer Layers of the Earth Worksheet