I would assume heavier molten metals would be in the center of the earth. Is it possible that the center has different molten metals on top of each other with a high concentration of iron on the outside of the core?
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Most of you seem to be forgetting that, initially, the Earth’s core was very wrinkled. It needed ironing. Ironing takes energy and time. Once ironed into a smooth core, the earth was better prepared to go out into the universe.
I’m no scientist but consider this…
I read your assumption as, heavy metals would be pulled to the center because of their weight. I am assuming that the center of the earth is neutral, as gravity is not created by the center but the whole earth mass. At the center an object would be pulled in all directions and therefore exert the equal and opposite force (weight) in all directions and would appear to be weightless.
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Someone from Geodynamics might be better to chime in here but … not molten?
Short and pithy: because (a) iron is the most stable element in the Universe and (b) we are ashes of an ancient supernova.
They are absolutely there. It’s just that the percentage of iron is so much that you may as well just say ‘iron core’.
Also, we don’t know for certain the exact makeup of the core since we can’t actually go there and take samples. Instead we need to infer by measuring things like seismic waves, studying what comes out of volcanos, figuring out what could cause effects like the the magnetic field and so on.
One of the things that geologists have to guess on are the compounds deep inside the earth. At the extremes of temperature and pressure found deep down, it allows compounds to form that would never be found at surface conditions.
Earth’s center is solid. Mostly iron and nickel. Other heavy metals are likely in the mix. The composition reflects the abundance of the metals that formed our solar system.
Serious question: lead is farther down on the periodic table than iron, and I thought everything decayed into lead and that was it. What am I missing?
There is a lot of gold and platinum and other heavy rare metals in the core, too. In fact, all the heavy metals that were on the earth when it first formed are there. The gold we can find now was deposited on earth later. A lot came from when a mars-sized planetoid crashed into earth and blasted a bunch of material off, some of which formed the moon. More was deposited by other meteors. In those days there were a lot more rocks flying around so there were a lot more impacts.
I don’t mean to be an idiot here, as I have a deep interest in this. Is it possible, by chance, that there is a transformer encased in this metal at the center of the earth?
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