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Schematic of the Earth's inner core and outer core motion and the magnetic field it generates. The Earth's inner core is thought to be slowly growing as the liquid outer core at the boundary with the inner core cools and solidifies due to the gradual cooling of the Earth's interior (about 100 degrees Celsius per billion years). [49]
Earth cutaway from core to exosphere Geothermal drill machine in Wisconsin, USA. Temperature within Earth increases with depth. Highly viscous or partially molten rock at temperatures between 650 and 1,200 °C (1,200 and 2,200 °F) are found at the margins of tectonic plates, increasing the geothermal gradient in the vicinity, but only the outer core is postulated to exist in a molten or fluid ...
The solid inner core is too hot to hold a permanent magnetic field (see Curie temperature) but probably acts to stabilize the magnetic field generated by the liquid outer core. The average magnetic field in Earth's outer core is estimated to measure 2.5 milliteslas (25 gauss), 50 times stronger than the magnetic field at the surface. [44]
Earth's inner core, a super-hot and super-compressed ball of iron smaller than the moon, helps generate the Earth's magnetic field and, by extension, the aurora borealis -- or Northern Lights.
Scientists say they’ve confirmed Earth’s inner core has been slowing down. Here’s what it could mean — and why the topic has been the subject of fierce debate.
Primordial heat is the heat lost by the Earth as it continues to cool from its original formation, and this is in contrast to its still actively-produced radiogenic heat. The Earth core's heat flow—heat leaving the core and flowing into the overlying mantle—is thought to be due to primordial heat, and is estimated at 5–15 TW. [23]
Earth's core is cooling at rates faster than previously thought, which could speed the planet's inevitable march toward inhabitability.
The core is made of hot, dense plasma (ions and electrons), at a pressure estimated at 26.5 million gigapascals (3.84 × 10 12 psi) at the center. [3] Due to fusion, the composition of the solar plasma drops from about 70% hydrogen by mass at the outer core, to 34% hydrogen at the center. [4]