Today I read a story in the WP relating to the rotation of earths “solid” inner iron core. I looked it up from a different source that confirmed it is solid as opposed to liquid. How can it be so hot and not be molten? Thank you!
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The state of matter is not only dependent on temperature but also on pressure. For most day to day applications we only concern ourselves with the temperature since we all live roughly in a constant pressure of 1 bar (approximate average atmospheric pressure at sea level).
But at the center of the Earth the pressure is immense, since literally the entire weight of the Earth is concentrating into a relatively small area. With pressure so high, the temperatures that it would have to be for the core to be liquid are much higher than they are, so it’s solid. The outer layers though between the core and crust are liquid since the pressure is lower.
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