ELI5 what is the core of the Earth made of, how does it stay molten, and what would the impact of it cooling be?
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As best scientists can currently tell, the core is made up of a nickle-iron alloy. There is a solid inner core and a liquid outer core.
The liquid outer core stays molten simply because it lacks an easy way to cool. The Earth’s mantle and crust doesn’t provide very effective heat transfer from the core out to space so the outer/liquid core stays hot simply because the heat has nowhere to go.
As far as what would happen if it cooled, well it’s actually a question of when. The earth’s core is already cooling, and has been for billions of years. When the core finally cools fully, many things will happen, basically none of them good. The earth would lose its magnetic field and tectonic plates will stop moving are among the two biggest, both would essentially make the planet uninhabitable in the long run.
Fortunately we still have several billions years before this occurs.
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