[meteorite-list] Molten Core? Solid Core? Rocky Core? BlueCheese!?

From: Jerry Flaherty <grf2_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:27:47 -0500
Message-ID: <2A50EF8F490045769DCC023DB77192E6_at_ASUS>

Doesn't the magnetic field necessitate "Flowing" or "Turbulence" within the
core, a result of the Earth's differential rotation?

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Richard Kowalski" <damoclid at yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:09 PM
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>; "Meteorites USA"
<eric at meteoritesusa.com>
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Molten Core? Solid Core? Rocky Core?
BlueCheese!?

> Solid Iron Inner Core. Liquid Iron Outer Core.
>
> Wiki is a good read.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_of_the_Earth
>
>
> --
> Richard Kowalski
> http://fullmoonphotography.net
> IMCA #1081
>
>
> --- On Tue, 12/29/09, Meteorites USA <eric at meteoritesusa.com> wrote:
>
>> From: Meteorites USA <eric at meteoritesusa.com>
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Molten Core? Solid Core? Rocky Core? Blue
>> Cheese!?
>> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> Date: Tuesday, December 29, 2009, 9:02 PM
>> OK,
>>
>> A friend and I were watching a show on Discovery or NatGeo
>> a couple months back. The program I think was about
>> asteroids, and impacts, perhaps even "How the Earth Was
>> Made" or another program. Don't really remember....
>>
>> The point is during the show they said very
>> matter-of-factly on three separate occasions that the
>> Earth's core was made of three different materials. One
>> scientist (or narrator I don't remember) said Earth
>> had a rocky core. Which we laughed at of course because we
>> all know that the Earth's core is Solid iron right? Then
>> another scientist confirmed our knowledge and stated what we
>> already knew. The Earth core is made of SOLID iron. "Of
>> course we said!" Now that's right... Then not 10 minutes
>> more into the show another person stated that the Earth had
>> a molten iron core.
>>
>> To make matters even more confusing the show went on to say
>> that the SOLID iron core was surrounded by molten iron with
>> lighter "rocky" materials "floating" out beyond that OK...
>> sounded good at the time, but....
>>
>> My question is simple. Which is it? Molten? Solid Iron? or
>> Solid iron surrounded by molten iron. And if it's the latter
>> how is this possible? Wouldn't the solid iron core NOT be
>> solid if it were sitting in the middle of a molten lake of
>> iron? Does the core cool faster than the surrounding
>> material, and if so how is this possible considering this
>> the logic that says an object cools from the outside in.
>>
>> Now, I'd like to stop there but I just read an interesting
>> article on National Geographic's website titled "North
>> Magnetic Pole Moving East Due to Core Flux" here:
>> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091224-north-pole-magnetic-russia-earth-core.html
>>
>> At the end of the article it flatly states:
>>
>> "...Wandering Pole -
>>
>> Geologists think Earth has a magnetic field because the
>> core is made up of a solid iron center surrounded by rapidly
>> spinning liquid metal. This creates a "dynamo" that drives
>> our magnetic field.
>>
>> Scientists had long suspected that, since the molten core
>> is constantly moving, changes in its magnetism might be
>> affecting the surface location of magnetic north...."
>>
>> I don't know about you, but this confuses me just a little
>> bit...
>>
>> Can anyone please clear this up for me? And perhaps the
>> rest of the world? ;)
>>
>> Regards,
>> Eric Wichman
>> Meteorites USA
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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Received on Tue 29 Dec 2009 11:27:47 PM PST