Transcript Layers of the Earth

Seismic “Sonar”
 Lithosphere
“Rock Bubble”
 Asthenosphere
“Putty Bubble”
 Crust
 Mantle
 Outer Core
 Inner Core
 Crust – Thinnest layer made of rock. Oceanic
crust is mostly basalt and is 5-10 km thick.
Continental crust is mostly granite and is 50-70
km thick.
 How we know: We live on it.
 Mantle – Thickest layer (makes up the bulk of the
Earth’s mass and volume). Made of molten rock
(magma).
 How we know: Magma sometimes comes up
from the mantle at volcanoes, s and p waves
travel through the mantle.
 Outer Core – A layer of liquid iron and nickel.
 How we know: Liquid because s-waves are blocked
in this region, iron and nickel because the earth has
a magnetic field and their needs to be something
very dense inside based on the density of the rocks
in the crust and the overall density of the Earth.
 Inner Core – A layer of solid iron and nickel.
 How we know: Solid because p-waves are blocked in
this region, iron and nickel because the earth has a
magnetic field and their needs to be something very
dense inside based on the density of the rocks in the
crust and the overall density of the Earth.
 The Lithosphere is made
up of the Crust and the
solid upper portion of
the Mantle. The
Lithosphere is what the
tectonic plates are made
of.
 The Asthenosphere is the
putty-like upper portion
of the Mantle that the
tectonic plates “slide
around on”.
1. Obtain a one meter long piece of register tape.
2. On one side of the paper near the end make a dot and label this as Earth’s center. This dot will represent the
center of the earth. You will use this dot to make all of your measurements.
3. Measure 17 cm from earth’s center, draw a line across the paper and label the space below the line as Inner
core.
4. Measure 46 cm from earth’s center, draw a line across the paper and label the space below the line as Outer
core.
5. Measure 84 cm from earth’s center, draw a line across the paper and label the space below the line as Mantle.
6. Measure 88 cm from earth’s center, draw a line across the paper and label the space below the line as
Asthenosphere/ upper mantle.
7. Measure 90 cm from earth’s center, draw a line across the paper and label the space below the line as
Lithosphere/ Crust. This includes both the ocean floor, and land surface.
8. Measure 90.3 cm from the earth’s center, draw a line across the paper and label the space below the line as
Earth’s surface.
10. Most people think that the atmosphere is quite thick. All of the weather happens here, and the clouds look so
far away that it must be quite thick. To find out how thick it is measure 90.7 cm from the earth’s center, draw
a line across the paper and label the space below the line as Atmosphere. This is the thickness of the
atmosphere, but you would suffocate long before you reach this height. In fact, the thickness you can breathe
in is about as thick as your pencil lead.
 Your Catastrophic Events Book: Pages 167-169
 Your ScienceSaurus: Page 177
 Earth’s Structure BrainPOP:
http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/earthsstructure/zoom.
weml
 Seismic Waves Tutorial (For this topic the part with the houses
“jumping” up and down is the best.):
http://aspire.cosmic-ray.org/Labs/SeismicWaves/seismic.swf
 Layers of the Earth Rap Video (YouTube):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9j1xGaxYzY&safety_mode=true&
persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
(This is a dead link. Once you have obtained permission from an adult
you can copy and past this URL into the address bar to get to the video.)