![]() ![]() Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slow to react with air under standard conditions because a passivation layer of nickel oxide forms on the surface that prevents further corrosion. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. The data from thousands of earthquakes and their seismic waves has enabled us to 'image' the entire planet like an X-ray can image the bones inside your body.Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. "Seismologists can 'read' the seismic data recorded at each seismic station on the surface of the Earth and learn what the energy travelled through to create the 'signature' on the recording. "Different structures within the planet have different effects on the seismic waves-bending them, slowing them down, making them larger or smaller," Wald said. Scientists have mapped the Earth's internal structure by looking at seismic waves produced by large earthquakes that travel through and around the entirety of our planet. ![]() For example, birds would no longer be able to migrate, and compasses would no longer point north." How Do Scientists Know About the Earth's Structure? This in turn would make the surface of our planet more vulnerable to solar storms from the sun, and it would cause problems with any living being or technological component that uses magnetism. "The Earth would lose its magnetic field, since that is also created by the convection outer core and rotation of the Earth. "As it does so, the convection in the mantle, powered by the heat from the outer core, will slow down, ultimately causing the end of plate tectonics-the motion of the Earth's crust that causes earthquakes and volcanoes," she said. "The rate of cooling has been constant, but scientists recently discovered that there is uneven cooling, resulting in lumps and bumps on the surface of the inner core." What Happens When the Core Cools Significantly?Īccording to Wald, it will take tens of billions of years for the inner core to cool significantly. ![]() The inner core reaches temperatures of around 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Stock image: A 3D rendering showing the inner structure of the Earth. Temperatures here are thought to range between around 7,200 and 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The outer core extends for around 1,400 miles and mostly consists of liquid iron and nickel. Underneath the mantle is the Earth's core, which is comprised of an inner and outer section. Temperatures at the bottom of this layer, meanwhile, hover around the 6,700 degrees Fahrenheit mark. In regions closer to the crust, the temperature may be around 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The pressure and heat in the mantle generally increases the deeper you go. While the mantle is mostly solid, on geologic timescales, it essentially behaves like a viscous fluid. This layer consists of rock material that is more dense than in the crust and mostly solid, although melting can occur in some localized regions due to high pressures. The Earth's cool, thin outer layer, known as the crust, mostly consists of solid rock and is generally around 20-30 miles thick in continental areas, although in oceanic regions the average thickness is roughly four miles.īelow the crust lies the mantle, which extends downwards for roughly 1,800 miles, making up 84 percent of the Earth's total volume. The distance from the Earth's surface to its center is almost 4,000 miles-but our planet's structure is not uniform and is actually made up of several different layers, some of which are hotter than others. ![]()
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