What the Earth consists of: the internal and external structure

What can be inside our native planet? Simply put, what does the Earth consist of, what is its internal structure? These questions have long been of concern to scientists. But it turned out that clarifying this issue is not so simple. Even with the help of modern technology, a person can go deeper inside only a distance of fifteen kilometers, and this, of course, is not enough to understand and justify everything. Therefore, even today, research on "what the Earth is made of" is, basically, using indirect data and assumptions-hypotheses. But in this, scientists have already achieved certain results.

How to study the planet

Even in the times of the ancients, individual representatives of mankind aspired to cognition: what the earth consists of. People also studied sections of rocks, naked by nature itself and available for viewing. This, in the first place, cliffs, mountain slopes, steep shore of the seas and rivers. There are many things to be understood from these natural sections, because they consist of those rocks that were here and millions of years ago. And today scientists drill wells in some parts of the land. Of these, the deepest is 15 km on the Kola Peninsula. Also, the study is carried out with the help of mines that are cut through for the extraction of minerals: coal and ore, for example. They also extract samples of rocks that can tell people about what the Earth is made of.

Indirect data

But this is what concerns experienced and visual knowledge about the structure of the planet. But with the help of the science of seismology (the study of earthquakes) and geophysics, scientists penetrate into the depths without contact, analyzing seismic waves and their propagation. These data tell us about the properties of substances deep underground. The study of the structure of the planet and with the help of artificial satellites, which are in orbit, is being studied.

What does the Earth consist of?

The inner structure of the planet is not homogeneous. Today, researchers have established that the interior of the globe consists of several parts. In the middle is the core. Next - the mantle, which is huge and is about five-sixths of the total mass of the Earth. The outer crust is represented by a thin layer covering the sphere. These three components, in turn, are also not completely homogeneous and have structural features.

Core

What is the core of the earth? Scientists put forward several versions of the composition and origin of the central part of the planet. The most popular: the core is an iron-nickel melt. The core is divided into several parts: the internal - the solid, the outer - the liquid. It is very heavy: it accounts for more than a third of the total mass of the planet (for comparison, its volume is only 15%). According to scientists, it was formed gradually, over time, and iron and nickel were released from the silicates. At present (in 2015), scientists from Oxford proposed a version according to which the nucleus consists of radioactive uranium. This, by the way, they explain both the increased heat transfer of the planet, and the existence of a magnetic field to this day. In any case, the information from which the core of the Earth is composed can only be obtained hypothetically, since prototypes to modern science are inaccessible.

Mantle

What is the mantle of the Earth composed of? At once it is necessary to make a reservation that, as in the case with the nucleus, the scientist has not yet had time to reach it. Therefore, the study is also conducted with the help of theories and hypotheses. In recent years, however, Japanese researchers are drilling at the bottom of the ocean, where up to the mantle remains "only" 3000 km. But the results are not yet announced. And the mantle is made, according to scientists, silicates are rocks saturated with iron and magnesium. They are in a molten liquid state (the temperature reaches 2500 degrees). And even in the mantle, strangely enough, it includes water. There it is very much (if you throw out all the internal water to the surface, then the level of the world's ocean would rise by 800 meters).

Earth's crust

It takes just slightly more than a percent of the planet in volume and a little less - by mass. But, despite its light weight, the bark of the earth is very important for humanity, because it is on it that all living things on Earth live.

Spheres of the Earth

It is known that the age of our planet is about 4.5 billion years (the scientists found this using radiometric data). In the study of the Earth, several of the shells inherent in it, called geospheres, have been identified. They differ in their chemical composition and in their physical properties. The hydrosphere includes all the water on the planet in its various states (liquid, solid, gaseous). The lithosphere is a stone shell, tightly encircling the Earth (from 50 to 200 km thick). The biosphere is all living things on the planet, including bacteria, plants, and humans. Atmosphere (from the ancient Greek "atmosphere", which means steam) is the air shell of the earth, without which life would be impossible.

What does the Earth's atmosphere consist of?

The inner part of this vital shell is adjacent to the earth's crust and is a gaseous substance. And the outer one borders on the space near-Earth space. It determines the weather on the planet, and its composition is also not homogeneous. What does the Earth's atmosphere consist of? Modern scientists can accurately determine its components. Nitrogen in percentage terms - more than 75%. Oxygen is 23%. Argon - a little more than 1 percent. Quite a bit: carbon dioxide, neon, helium, methane, hydrogen, xenon and some other substances. The water content of the atmosphere varies from 0.2% to 2.5%, depending on the climatic zone. The content of carbon dioxide is also unstable. Some characteristics of the modern Earth atmosphere directly depend on the industrial activity of man.