What is outer core in short answer?

What is outer core in short answer?

Earth’s outer core is a fluid layer about 2,400 km (1,500 mi) thick and composed of mostly iron and nickel that lies above Earth’s solid inner core and below its mantle. Its outer boundary lies 2,890 km (1,800 mi) beneath Earth’s surface.

What is the outer core on the Earth?

The outer core, about 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles) thick, is mostly composed of liquid iron and nickel. The NiFe alloy of the outer core is very hot, between 4,500° and 5,500° Celsius (8,132° and 9,932° Fahrenheit).

What is the outer core known for?

The outer core is the third layer of the Earth. It is the only liquid layer, and is mainly made up of the metals iron and nickel, as well as small amounts of other substances. The outer core is responsible for Earth’s magnetic field. The magnetic field protects the Earth from harmful particles that come from the Sun.

What are five facts about outer core?

Facts About The Earth’s Outer Core The inner core is the fourth layer inside the Earth. Temperature: 4,000°C – 6,000°C State: Liquid Composition: iron, nickel, sulphur and oxygen. Thickness: 1,355 miles (2,180 km) Density: 9,900 – 12,200 kg/m 3.

What is inner and outer core?

Inner Core: The innermost part of Earth is the core and is about 1500 miles (2414 km) thick. Outer Core: The outer core, which is liquid, is about 1300 miles (2092 km) thick. Both the inner and outer cores consist primarily of iron and nickel and are extremely hot with temperatures ranging from 7200–9000℉ (4000–5000℃).

Why is the outer core of the Earth liquid?

The metallic nickel–iron outer core is liquid because of the high temperature. However, the intense pressure, which increases towards the inner core, dramatically changes the melting point of the nickel–iron, making it solid.

Why is Earth core liquid?

Inside the Earth, its interior temperature drops, while its pressure remains constant. So the Earth’s core is liquid because it’s hot enough to melt iron, but only in places where the pressure is low enough.

What keeps the Earth’s core hot?

There are three main sources of heat in the deep earth: (1) heat from when the planet formed and accreted, which has not yet been lost; (2) frictional heating, caused by denser core material sinking to the center of the planet; and (3) heat from the decay of radioactive elements.

Why is outer core liquid?

How was Earth’s outer core formed?

It’s believed that the core of the Earth formed early on in our planet’s history, when the entire planet was made of molten rock and metal. Since it was a liquid, the heaviest elements, like iron, nickel, gold and platinum sunk down into the center, leaving the less dense elements on top.

What are two reasons why the Earth is thought to have a liquid outer core explain your answer?

Scientists figured out that the outer core must be liquid because S waves do not pass through it, but P waves do. The behavior of P and S waves also indicates that the inner core is solid. The speed of seismic waves also depends on the density of the material through which they are traveling.

Can we drill to the center of the Earth?

It’s the thinnest of three main layers, yet humans have never drilled all the way through it. Then, the mantle makes up a whopping 84% of the planet’s volume. At the inner core, you’d have to drill through solid iron. This would be especially difficult because there’s near-zero gravity at the core.

What are facts about about the outer core?

The center of the Earth is made up of two layers, the outer core and the inner core. The outer core is the third layer of the Earth. It is the only liquid layer, and is mainly made up of the metals iron and nickel, as well as small amounts of other substances. The outer core is responsible for Earth’s magnetic field .

What does an outer core do to the Earth?

The outer core is responsible for Earth’s magnetic field . As Earth spins on its axis, the iron inside the liquid outer core moves around. The movement causes powerful electric currents to develop in the liquid iron itself. These powerful currents cause lines of invisible force to stretch around the Earth and thousands of miles into space, creating a magnetic field.

What are the properties of the outer core?

The average magnetic field strength in the Earth’s outer core was measured to be 2.5 millitesla, 50 times stronger than the magnetic field at the surface. The outer core is not under enough pressure to be solid, so it is liquid even though it has a composition similar to the inner core. Sulfur and oxygen could be present in the outer core.

What are the outer core’s elements?

The outer core is about 1,400 miles thick, and it’s made mostly of a combination (called an alloy) of iron and nickel, along with small amounts of other dense elements like gold, platinum, and uranium. These metals can, of course, be found on the surface of Earth in solid form. In the outer core, they’re in a very hot liquid form.