Unexpected discovery about earth’s core
The core of the earth doesn’t look the way it was expected to. Scientists at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden , KTH, can now show that iron, under extremely high pressure, such as that found in the inner earth, takes on unexpected properties, and this can be of importance in understanding the movements of the earth, such as, earthquakes. The results are being presented in the new issue of the British scientific journal Nature.
The core of the earth consists almost exclusively of iron. The iron atoms in a piece of iron, in room temperature, are packed according to a certain structure, in this case called body centered cubic or bcc. This means the atoms are relatively sparsely packed. When the piece of iron is exposed to greater pressure, the iron atoms place themselves differently in relation to each other and take on another kind of structure, so-called hexagonal close packed, or hcp. The become more densely packed, which seems natural, and it has long been assumed that the higher the temperature and pressure iron is exposed to, the more stable the hpc structure will be. Researchers from the department KTH Materials Science maintain, however, that this not the case. With the help of computer simulations, they have now shown that iron, unexpectedly, reverts to bcc structure at extreme temperatures and pressures. Exactly why this occurs is the next question for science to tackle.
Research into the inner parts of the earth has enjoyed a great boom over the last few years, largely owing to the fact that equipment has not been available until today to simulate the conditions down there. It is pure research, and the discoveries are thus far difficult to evaluate in terms of money or practical applications, but it might be possible to use increased knowledge of the construction of the earth in geology to understand the significance of the core of the earth in earthquakes or volcano eruptions.
Media Contact
More Information:
http://www.kth.se/eng/All latest news from the category: Earth Sciences
Earth Sciences (also referred to as Geosciences), which deals with basic issues surrounding our planet, plays a vital role in the area of energy and raw materials supply.
Earth Sciences comprises subjects such as geology, geography, geological informatics, paleontology, mineralogy, petrography, crystallography, geophysics, geodesy, glaciology, cartography, photogrammetry, meteorology and seismology, early-warning systems, earthquake research and polar research.
Newest articles
Innovative 3D printed scaffolds offer new hope for bone healing
Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia have developed novel 3D printed PLA-CaP scaffolds that promote blood vessel formation, ensuring better healing and regeneration of bone tissue. Bone is…
The surprising role of gut infection in Alzheimer’s disease
ASU- and Banner Alzheimer’s Institute-led study implicates link between a common virus and the disease, which travels from the gut to the brain and may be a target for antiviral…
Molecular gardening: New enzymes discovered for protein modification pruning
How deubiquitinases USP53 and USP54 cleave long polyubiquitin chains and how the former is linked to liver disease in children. Deubiquitinases (DUBs) are enzymes used by cells to trim protein…