A excessive focus of carbon inside Earth’s internal core might clarify a long-standing thriller about how the deepest a part of our planet froze strong – a course of that kick-started the magnetic area defending life on the floor.
Earth’s internal core presents a paradox for geophysicists: it first shaped as a large liquid ball of principally iron, then started to solidify throughout the final billion years. To ensure that that freezing course of to begin in a pure iron object, it will have needed to cool by a minimum of 700 kelvin in…
Article amended on 19 November 2024
We clarified the proportion of carbon wanted for freezing underneath 250 Ok of cooling