[HN Gopher] Earth's inner core may have changed shape, say scien...
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Earth's inner core may have changed shape, say scientists
Author : neversaydie
Score : 45 points
Date : 2025-02-10 16:31 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bbc.co.uk)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.co.uk)
| ryao wrote:
| > The inner core is usually thought to be shaped like a ball, but
| its edges may actually have deformed by 100m or more in height in
| places, according to Prof John Vidale who led the research.
|
| Is this not within the margin of error for our understanding of
| the boundary?
|
| It would not surprise me if the boundary is a place where there
| is no clear difference between solid and liquid, such that the
| solid edges of the core are always transient. Phase change
| diagrams in chemistry show regions where matter is simultaneously
| a liquid and a solid at temperatures and pressures that do not
| occur in daily life. Presumably, under immense pressure and
| temperature, the core's boundary would be a place where this
| occurs.
|
| I am not an expert in physics, so take what I say here with a
| grain of salt.
| lupusreal wrote:
| It makes some intuitive sense to me that the boundary between
| the solid(ish) mantle and the liquid outer core would be fuzzy,
| while the boundary between the liquid outer core and the solid
| inner core would be rather crisp. Not sure how to explain why I
| think of it that way, it just seems like the way it should work
| for some reason.
| marcosdumay wrote:
| A high enough pressure makes the transition between gases,
| liquids, and solids all very fuzzy.
|
| I do think Earth is not large enough for that, but it's
| certainly not as crisp as you would assume if you only know
| how matter behaves at the surface.
| duxup wrote:
| Growing up I was very interested in space and I had come to think
| of planetary evolution to be just sort of a process that reaches
| a natural balance that is "now".
|
| These days a lot of the science I consume seems to have a better
| understanding of the past and that "balance" is just seen as a
| stage in ongoing planetary change.
|
| Of course I thought of that evolution as just the outside of a
| planet, but it makes sense that the inside matters too.
|
| It's interesting how different things can be along various stages
| and dynamics at play.
| npongratz wrote:
| Quite an understatement:
|
| > The core is about 4,000 miles from the Earth's surface and,
| despite best efforts, scientists have so far been unable to reach
| it.
| robotnikman wrote:
| To put things into perspective, the deepest hole drilled, the
| The Kola Superdeep Borehole, is only 7.6 miles deep. Our
| deepest hold did not get anywhere near close to the core.
|
| We know there is a core thousands of miles beneath our very
| feet, and we can only guess as to what exactly it is, a mystery
| beneath us our entire lives.
| jsbisviewtiful wrote:
| Only making it down .19% before being outmatched is quite
| humbling for the human species.
| Terr_ wrote:
| Look man, we may have taken the multicellular title _from
| the frick 'n worms_ [0], to say nothing of utterly
| _trouncing_ our mole-brethren, so as far as I 'm concerned
| we are winning. :p
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halicephalobus_mephisto
| tsujamin wrote:
| Necessary quote from my favourite movie
|
| > Dr. Josh Keyes: The core is the size of Mars. You're talking
| about jump-starting a planet. This is a superheated hyper-fluid
| of molten iron and nickel at 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit. And the
| deepest we've ever been is... 7 miles, with a two-inch drill
| bit. Space is easy. It's empty. We're talking about millions of
| pounds of pressure per square inch. Even if we somehow came up
| with a brilliant plan to fix the core, we just can't get there.
|
| > Dr Conrad Zimsky: ...But what if we could?
|
| [1]: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298814/
| ricardo81 wrote:
| It had me thinking this was referencing Total Recall
| wslh wrote:
| Or Armageddon?
| SteveNuts wrote:
| They clearly don't know jack about drilling.
| culi wrote:
| I believe the deepest we've ever gotten is 7.5 miles. So
| 0.1875% and we're only a few millennia in!
| mont_tag wrote:
| Perhaps too difficult for either Bruce Willis or for Chuck
| Norris, but what if they worked together !?
| tastyfreeze wrote:
| Working together wouldn't be enough. They would have to merge
| into Bruce Norris or Chuck Willis; the ultimate action hero.
| tolciho wrote:
| Or mix things up with "I'm just the chef" Steven Seagal,
| though regardless the movie would be boring.
| veidelis wrote:
| Sorry to tell you, but Bruce Willis has dementia.
| floxy wrote:
| Bruce Willis' AI likeness. Or however we are going to start
| referring to AI manifestations of dead actors. AI-zombie?
| AI-reincarnation? AI-ghost-of-so-and-so?
| floating-io wrote:
| And dementia has Chuck Norris.
| flkiwi wrote:
| The CNN article I just skimmed about this has a very interesting
| science communication issue. It notes that originally the solid
| inner core rotated faster than the rest of the planet, but that
| in 2010 it rotated slower than the rest of the planet. It's not
| clear from CNN's article:
|
| 1. Whether the inner core was or was not observed to spin faster
| than the rest of the planet 2. Whether the inner core changed
| (relative?) speed in 2010 or whether its behavior was confirmed
| in 2010, or 3. Perhaps most interestingly, whether the inner core
| had spun faster than the rest of the planet and we happened to be
| alive at the time when, for the first time in our planet's 4.6
| billion year history, that changed in 2010, or whether they swap
| rotation rates now and then.
|
| This is not really criticism. Science communication is hard.
| Hell, I've probably misrepresented CNN's representation 2-3 times
| in this comment.
| holoduke wrote:
| What would happen with society if we find out that we have avout
| 500 years before our magnetic shield disappears and the
| atmosphere will be gone 200 years later. Would we finally work
| together to somehow try to find a fix or will the world turn into
| anarchy?
| lukan wrote:
| Look how we react to climate change.
| rurp wrote:
| Interesting question. I think there would be a bit of both but
| the most common reaction by far would be to do nothing. There
| would be a lot of disinformation questioning the scientists and
| science behind the findings, and any politician trying to
| direct significant money towards adressing the problem would be
| attacked by all of the politicians who would rather use those
| funds for their own benefit.
|
| I think the modern era has shown that most people put very
| little value on future lives or the lives of people outside of
| their tribe. Plenty of propoganda would spring up to justify
| inaction and alleviate any guilt.
| stevenwoo wrote:
| If you have some spare time this is very popular subject for
| speculative fiction, sometimes with much shorter time spans or
| lower stakes but most people working together, it can be
| inspiring if one is so inclined. Of course, there's not much
| story to tell if we don't unite a bit (there's always
| conflict). For lower stakes: Contact, Rendezvous with Rama, and
| for fate of mankind (to some extent) there's Spin, Project Hail
| Mary, Mars trilogy and Ministry for the Future (deep dive into
| each political side portrayed and maybe even a bit too
| optimistic in some ways), Seveneves, The Gods Themselves,
| Footfall. There's also the pessimistic outlook that can be
| summarized by that New Yorker cartoon, but that's a different
| list. https://condenaststore.com/featured/the-planet-got-
| destroyed...
| danielodievich wrote:
| >Ministry for the Future (deep dive into each political side
| portrayed and maybe even a bit too optimistic in some ways) I
| loved the book but it's indeed hopelessly optimistic. I think
| the heat wave that begins this book is going to happen in the
| next decade and the response to it would be remarkably NOT
| like the book
| idunnoman1222 wrote:
| Well, it would take 100 million years for the atmosphere to be
| gone. The UV would be a worse problem because it would kill all
| the plants.
| zamadatix wrote:
| I think this question becomes a lot more interesting for 50 +
| 20 years instead of 500 + 200. For the latter I just can't see
| people giving enough of a shit to devolve into anarchy over.
| It'd be like going to the 1300s and asking someone what they'll
| do to stop Polio in the 1900s.
| nashashmi wrote:
| [delayed]
| egypturnash wrote:
| oh good it's finally gonna hatch, our time is up
| shagie wrote:
| Dr. Who - Kill the Moon. (Spoilers)
| https://youtu.be/pHOnGSFzd3Y
| wslh wrote:
| Isn't this Nature article more accurate?
| https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00395-7
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