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Although having a composition similar to Earth's solid inner core, the outer core remains liquid as there is not enough pressure to keep it in a solid state. Seismic inversions of body waves and normal modes constrain the radius of the outer core to be 3483 km with an uncertainty of 5 km, while that of the inner core is 1220±10 km. [7]: 94
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.
The core–mantle boundary (CMB) of Earth lies between the planet's silicate mantle and its liquid iron–nickel outer core, at a depth of 2,891 km (1,796 mi) below Earth's surface. The boundary is observed via the discontinuity in seismic wave velocities at that depth due to the differences between the acoustic impedances of the solid mantle ...
Lehmann was the first to suggest that wayward P waves might be interacting with a solid inner core within the liquid outer core, based on data from a massive earthquake in New Zealand in 1929.
It is true that the outer core generates electrical currents that sustain the planet's magnetic field, but Vidale says shifts in the Texas-size inner core are too minuscule to have an impact.
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]
Next, the research team wants to investigate whether the core is a storehouse of other light elements, which could account for the why Earth’s outer core is less dense than expected.
Schematic of the Earth's inner core and outer core motion and the magnetic field it generates. The Earth's inner core is thought to be slowly growing as the liquid outer core at the boundary with the inner core cools and solidifies due to the gradual cooling of the Earth's interior (about 100 degrees Celsius per billion years). [49]