According to a new study, the inner core of our planet could be filled with a strange substance that is neither solid nor even liquid.
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For more than half a century, scientists have believed that the Earth’s interior consists of a molten outer core surrounded by a spherical formation of dense, solid iron alloy, the Nature however, new research published in a scientific journal on February 9 sheds light on the structural structure of our planet from a completely different perspective.
Computer simulations suggest that the Earth’s hot and high-pressure inner core may exist in a superionic state, that is, it is made up of a swirling mixture of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon molecules that constantly slams through a thick iron lattice.
At the core of the planet is an pressure of astonishing force and unimaginable heat like the surface of the Sun. A study published in 2021 examining the seismic wave types of the Earth showed that there is not really solid iron in the deep, but some a soft, musky substance composed of different states.
However, researchers were unsure of the exact chemical composition of the strange material in question – as it was virtually impossible to access the core, they compiled a computer simulation into which seismic data were fed, thereby reconstructing deep-seated processes.
While atoms in a regular solid state are arranged in a repetitive lattice structure, scientists have shown that Instead, they are transformed into superionic alloys in the core of the earthnamely a special skeleton of iron atoms around which the other elements can move freely due to strong convective flows.
If the simulation reflects reality, the ceaseless swirling of porridge-like, pasty superionic materials may help explain why the structure of the inner core seems to change from time to time, or may provide an answer to how the processes responsible for shaping the Earth’s magnetic field are created.
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