Warm up/
5.a: Compare and contrast the Earth’s crust, mantleand core including temperature, density and composition.
True or False Be able to defend your answer!
1. The inner core of the Earth is solid and made primarily of iron.
2. The layer of the Earth between the crust and the core is the mantle.
3. Scientists consider the physical layers in two ways-by their chemical composition and by their physical properties.
S6E5.a: Compare and contrast the
Earth’s crust, mantle and coreincluding temperature, density and
composition.Layers of the Earth
Unit of study: Geosphere
The Earth’s crust is like the skin of an apple. Turn to an elbow partner and discuss why this statement is true.
Next, come up with another example.
Geosphere
• Solid part of the Earth’s
crust that consists of all
rock, and the soils and
sediments on Earth’s
surface.
• Most located in Earth’s
interior
How do we know Earth’s Interior?
• Seismic Waves: the waves
that travel through the
Earth’s interior during an
earthquake.
• Altered by the type of
material that it travels
through.
Crust• Thinnest,
outer layer.
• Made up of
light elements
• less than 1%
of Earth’s
mass
Continental-Thickest-less dense-
granite & Oceanic-Thinnest-Most
dense-Basalt Crust
Lithosphere
• Outer layer
• cool, rigid
• divided up into
huge tectonic
plates
The lithosphere (crust and upper
mantle) is divided into separate plates
which move very slowly in response to
the “convecting” part of the mantle.
Mantle
• Layer beneath the crust
• 64% of mass of Earth
• 2,900 km thick
• Made of
– lithosphere
– asthenosphere
– mesosphere
Asthenosphere
• 250 km thick
• plastic like layer made
of molten rock
• flows very slowly and
allows tectonic plates to
move across
Convection Currents
The next time you heat anything like soup or water in a pan you can watch
the convection currents move in the liquid. When the convection
currents flow in the asthenospherethey also move the crust. The crust gets a free ride with these currents, like the cork in this illustration.
Safety Caution: Don’t get your face too close to the boiling water!
Mesosphere
• 2,250 km thick
• “middle” sphere
• lower part of
mantle
Core• 3,248 km radius sphere
of hot, dense nickel and
iron
• 4,000 - 5,000 °C
• 1/3 of the Earth’s mass
• Made of
–Outer Core
–Inner Core
Inner & Outer Core
• Outer Core; 2,200
km thick, outer shell,
made of liquid nickel
and iron
• Inner Core: 1,228 km
radius; a sphere of
solid iron
Inner Core
Solid
Outer Core
Liquid
Mantle
Crust
Lithosphere – Crust and
Upper Layer of the Mantle
Layer of the Mantle
(asthenosphere) that
consists of hot rock of
tar-like consistency,
which slowly moves
Mr. Lee’s Layers of the Earth Rap
What do these two images tell us about the layers of the Earth?
Temperatureincreases as depth increases
Look at the information in the graph and
table below. What’s the relationship
between depth and density/pressure?
Density and Pressureincrease as depth increases
Add this statement to the
arrow going down on your
foldable.
Temperature, Density and
Pressure increases as depth increases
Which layer of the Earth has the
greatest temperature, pressure, and
density?
Core
The earth is layered with a lithosphere (crust and uppermost mantle), convecting mantle, and a dense metallic core.
Summary
http://www.learner.org/interactives/dynamicearth/structure.html
Pressure, temperature, and density increases as depth increases.
Student led ClosingS6E5.a: Compare and contrast the Earth’s crust, mantle and core including
temperature, density and composition.
Select Only One!
• What happens to the temperature & pressure
inside the Earth as depth increases?
• Explain the difference between the crust and
the lithosphere.
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