1. Exploring The Inner Earth

2. Temperature
If you were to dig into the Earth, would you expect the surrounding rock to be warm or cool?
The surrounding rock is cool for the first 20 meters. After that, the rock gets warmer.
The temperature rises 1°C for every 40 meters you descend!!

3. Under Pressure? Pressure is the force pushing on a surface or area
The weight of the rock above causes the pressure to increase as you go deeper inside the Earth.

4. What would happen?
As you go from the surface of the Earth to the center of the Earth
Temperature increases
Pressure increases
Density increases
As you go from the center of Earth to the surface of the Earth
Temperature decreases
Pressure decreases
Density decreases

5. There are 3 main layers of the Earth
The Crust
The Mantle
The Core

6. The Crust The outer skin of the Earth
The thinnest layer of the Earth is the crust
All dry land and the ocean floor make up the crust.
Because of pressure from the ocean, oceanic crust is more dense while continental crust is less dense.
Crust is thinnest beneath the ocean and thickest beneath the mountains (range: 5 – 40 km).

7. The Mantle 5 – 40 km beneath the surface is the Mantle
The mantle is a layer of “hot rock.”
The mantle contains the lithosphere, the asthenosphere, and the mesosphere.
It (mantle) is nearly 3,000 km thick and is the thickest layer

8. The Core The core consists of two parts:
The liquid outer core
Solid inner core
It is made of molten metal. The solid inner core.
The inner core is a dense ball of solid metal (iron and nickel).
Together, the core is slightly smaller than the moon but it makes up 1/3 of the Earth’s mass.

9. The Physical Structure of the Earth
Another way to look at the Earth is to examine the physical properties of its layers. The Earth is divided into five physical layers each layer has its own set of physical properties.
Lithosphere
asthenosphere,
Mesosphere
outer core
inner core

11. Lithosphere: (upper Mantel and Crust)
Outermost layer.
The uppermost part of the mantle and the crust go together to form the lithosphere.
Lithosphere is about 100 kilometers thick!!
This part of the mantle is solid rock.

12. Mantle: Asthenosphere
Soft layer of the mantle NOT SOLID!!
Asthenosphere can flow slowly (like putty). Think Silly putty!
The lithosphere floats on top of the asthenosphere.
Under the asthenosphere, solid mantle material extends all the way to the Earth’s core.
It (mantle) is nearly 3,000 km thick and is the thickest layer

13. Mantle: Mesosphere
Mesosphere is the strong solid part of the mantle that extends from the bottom of the asthenosphere to the outer core.

17. Sites http://appserv.pace.edu/emplibrary/thermometer.gif
dl.coastline.edu/.../IntroLecture2.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_School_Bus