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

From: Jerry Flaherty <grf2_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:35:05 -0500
Message-ID: <FB1CAC55F97446D99464F7E34899FB44_at_ASUS>

I didn't see the show you're describing but perhaps they were playing
"Devil's advocate" [excuse the biblical reference] to highlight a salient
point.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Jerry Flaherty" <grf2 at comcast.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:27 PM
To: "Richard Kowalski" <damoclid at yahoo.com>;
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>; "Meteorites USA"
<eric at meteoritesusa.com>
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Molten Core? Solid Core? Rocky
Core?BlueCheese!?

> 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
>>>
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
>>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
> ______________________________________________
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Tue 29 Dec 2009 11:35:05 PM PST