how do scientists know the Earth’s core is liquid if no one has ever seen it or extracted a sample?
In: Earth Science
Most of what we know about Earth’s core comes from earthquakes. When an earthquake happens, it sends sound waves through the ground so powerful that sensitive instruments can detect them from all the way on the other side of the planet. Just like how light refracts and lenses while going through materials of different densities, the core of the Earth works like a lens bending the sound waves that pass through it in a very specific way. By measuring these sound waves, it’s possible to work out a lot of very precise detail about Earth’s core including what state of matter it is.
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