Chinese scientists from Peking University published shocking research. According to their calculations, the Earth’s inner core has completely stopped and changed its direction of motion. However, scientists reassure that no catastrophic scenarios are imminent.
The Earth’s inner core is said to have completely stopped. According to Chinese scientists, this was most likely to happen in 2009. The core began to slow down until it finally stopped completely, and in 2011 it began to rotate in the opposite direction. Fortunately, there is no threat of a scenario like the one from the movie Jádro.
Scientists have different opinions about the rotation of the nucleus. Some believe that this is not the first time it has stalled, while others argue that the core could only have slowed down at most.
“The inner core will not stop completely. This means that the inner core is now more in sync with the rest of the planet than it was a decade ago, when it was spinning a bit faster. But there is no danger,” says Hrvoje Tkalcic, a geophysicist at the Australian National University.
Although everyone has a different opinion about the functionality of the earth’s core, scientists agree on one thing – we still know almost nothing about it. “You can think of seismologists as doctors who study the internal organs of patients’ bodies with limited equipment. So, despite progress, our picture of the Earth’s core is still blurry and we are still in the discovery phase,” explains Tkalcic.
Researching the Earth’s core is thus still a great challenge for scientists. Even though it is right under our feet.
luk, TN.cz
