• Question: what is the earth's core made of

    Asked by Nova to Christie, Dan, David, Dawn, Sian on 16 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Dawn Lau

      Dawn Lau answered on 16 Jun 2016:

      The earth’s core is mostly made of iron – there are other elements inside the core but I don’t think there’s yet a consensus on what they are as far as I’m aware…(David?)

    • Photo: Christie Waddington

      Christie Waddington answered on 19 Jun 2016:

      The earth’s core is made up of two parts: a solid, inner part and a liquid outer part.

      The solid, inner part is about 1220km thick and is made of iron. The liquid, outer core is made of a nickel-iron alloy and is 2180km thick! The inner core is kind of cool because it spins at a different speed to the rest of earth and is thought to cause the earth’s magnetic field.

    • Photo: Sian Thomas

      Sian Thomas answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      Glad to see the ladies know their stuff. Thanks Dawn and Christie.

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