Scientists accidentally discover Earth's inner core is less solid than expected

[Admin]

Researchers discovered that Earth's inner core is surprisingly viscous.

Scientists accidentally discover Earth's inner core is less solid than expected : Read more

 

[Helio]

Once again, more science produces improved science. They thought they had solid evidence, until someone looked closer.

 

[billslugg]

The core has a certain angular momentum. How can that change? Maybe some fluid is pushing sideways on one of its surface bumps.

 

[Helio]

The core has a certain angular momentum. How can that change? Maybe some fluid is pushing sideways on one of its surface bumps.

I never thought it could be all that solid with temperatures estimated to be as high as 6000K. I guess the pressure is too high for it to be a gas, but the outer core should be pretty, well, "soft to the touch".

Make that 6000C. Wiki stated the core temp. to be around 5700K, then stated, " Recent measurements suggest it could be as high as 6,000 °C." Ug.

 

[YetAnotherBob]

The core has a certain angular momentum. How can that change? Maybe some fluid is pushing sideways on one of its surface bumps.

It's a semi-solid, make that like molasses. It's still subject to tides. those have a slowing action until the planet is tide locked. So the earth is slowing down because of tides. Both solar and lunar. It is complicated by the mass above it and is a complex thing to actually calculate.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

If you consider how the ocean tides work to slow the Earth's rotation and increase the Moon's orbital speed, it is probably similar, but not as pronounced, in the other layers of the Earth, with the layers farthest from the center receiving the greatest effects. So, all layers are expected to slow down, but not all at the same rate. See https://science.howstuffworks.com/e...ising-rock-earths-crust-has-its-own-tides.htm for a discussion of tides in the crust.

(Yes, I know that "speeding up the Moon" actually ends up increasing its orbital radius and slowing its speed down along its orbital path. That is not contrary to what I posted in the paragraph above.)

 

[Helio]

If you consider how the ocean tides work to slow the Earth's rotation and increase the Moon's orbital speed, it is probably similar, but not as pronounced, in the other layers of the Earth, with the layers farthest from the center receiving the greatest effects. So, all layers are expected to slow down, but not all at the same rate.

That's a good. I can imagine that the tidal stress in the Earth, thus slowing, would occur with the outer layers of the Earth, so that the inner core would not slow as quickly thus would have an increasing relative rotation with the outer layers. This would, I assume, generate a stronger magnetic field. A larger and closer moon would be a big advantage for this, thus another argument for the likelihood for life on Earth.

 

[George²]

It's a good thing there are coincidences, otherwise, with planning, these scientists would have discovered nothing in their entire lives. /s

 

[LemmyCaution]

I never thought it could be all that solid with temperatures estimated to be as high as 6000K. I guess the pressure is too high for it to be a gas, but the outer core should be pretty, well, "soft to the touch".

Make that 6000C. Wiki stated the core temp. to be around 5700K, then stated, " Recent measurements suggest it could be as high as 6,000 °C." Ug.

Perhaps Wiki managed to get it backwards since 5700C just happens to be a bit shy of 6000K.

 

[Helio]

Perhaps Wiki managed to get it backwards since 5700C just happens to be a bit shy of 6000K.

Yeah, something happened there. Perhaps they meant to say 6000K since they were commenting on a revised core temp. We could look it up, but either temperature is high enough to make the point that the core is not quite "solid".

 

[Classical Motion]

I don’t think gravity converges matter to a point, I think it forms a shell like structure, not a ball. And the gravity at the center is less than the gravity of the shell. Allowing a less dense center. Allowing a relative velocity.

Gravity might be completely null at the very center point. And an inverse density gradient from the center to the shell. Upside down gradient.

The Earth’s crust seems to be saturated with super heated water. Water might even be a large proportion of our mantle. Hot water and various compounds make ions. If one polarity of ions becomes more aligned than the other, this might constitute current with the rotation of the earth. This current might generate our M field. And explain why at times it flips. The other ions becoming more aligned.

Or any net charge of ions in earth’s solution could do the same thing. And explain an M field reversal.

Our M field from wet chemistry. Perhaps.