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Earth's inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the planet Earth. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 km (760 mi), which is about 20% of Earth's radius or 70% of the Moon's radius. [1] [2] There are no samples of the core accessible for direct measurement, as there are for Earth's mantle. [3]
The transition between the inner core and outer core is located approximately 5,150 km (3,200 mi) beneath Earth's surface. Earth's inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the planet Earth . It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 km (760 mi), which is about 19% of Earth's radius [0.7% of volume] or 70% of the Moon 's radius.
Beneath the mantle, an extremely low viscosity liquid outer core lies above a solid inner core. [132] Earth's inner core may be rotating at a slightly higher angular velocity than the remainder of the planet, advancing by 0.1–0.5° per year, although both somewhat higher and much lower rates have also been proposed. [133]
Scientists study the inner core to learn how Earth’s deep interior formed and how activity connects across all the planet’s subsurface layers. - forplayday/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Earth's inner core, a super-hot and super-compressed ball of iron smaller than the moon, helps generate the Earth's magnetic field and, by extension, the aurora borealis -- or Northern Lights.
The findings add to the mystique of the most inscrutable part of our world, Vidale said. Literature and lore involving Earth's core have filled the knowledge void with all sorts of fanciful ideas.
The average magnetic field strength in Earth's outer core is estimated to be 2.5 millitesla, 50 times stronger than the magnetic field at the surface. [9] [10] As Earth's core cools, the liquid at the inner core boundary freezes, causing the solid inner core to grow at the expense of the outer core, at an estimated rate of 1 mm per year.
ANU also believes the innermost inner core hints at a major event in Earth's past that had a "significant" impact on the planet's heart. As researchers explain to The Washington Post, it could ...