Earth’s Composition

Standard S6E5. Students will investigate the scientific view of how

the earth’s surface is formed. a. Compare and contrast the Earth’s

crust, mantle, and core including temperature, density, and composition.

CRUST:1. The first layer of the earth is called the crust.2. It is the layer of the Earth where we live. 3. It is the outer most (outside) layer of the

Earth.4. It is a solid and is up to 100 kilometers thick.5. It is the coolest in temperature of all the

layers.

6. It is composed (means made of) minerals and rocks and is mostly made of granite and basalt.7. The part of the crust where the continents are is known as continental crust. This is the thickest part of the crust.8. The part of the crust beneath the ocean water is known as the oceanic crust, the thinnest part of the crust.

Difference in Continental and Oceanic Crust

MANTLE:9. The second layer of the Earth is the Mantle.10. It is the largest layer with a thickness up to 2,900 kilometers.11. It has the most mass of all the layers.

12. It is a solid made of molten (melted) rock that flows like melted plastic.13. It is composed (means made of) mostly magnesium . 14. The mantle’s temperature is higher than the crust reaching up to 3,000°C.

Magma: hot flowing melted rock

CORE: It is the center (middle) layer of the Earth. There are two parts to the core.

Outer Core:

15. It is made of molten/liquid iron and nickel.16. Its thickness is 2,300 kilometer.17. It is hotter than the mantle.

Inner Core:18. The inner core is made of solid iron and nickel because it is the innermost region of earth. Since it is under such extreme pressure, the metals become a solid.19. The inner core has the highest temperatures of all the layers.

20. It has a thickness of 1,200 kilometers.21. It is the most dense of all the layers.

Solid Nickel Solid Iron

Other Information

22. If you were able to journey down to the center of the earth, you would observe an increase in pressure, temperature, and density.

23. The Earth’s mantle is made up of very hot material that rises to the top of the mantle, cools, then sinks, reheats, and rises again, constantly repeating the cycle. These convection currents (energy transferred by circulation of a liquid or a gas) cause the Earth’s crust to move.

24. If an oceanic plate collided with a continental plate of the crust, the oceanic plate would be pushed under the continental plate.