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Earth

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The Earth is an enormous place. There is so much that we don’t yet know about what happens on the surface of the Earth, so how could we possibly know about what happens deep down below the Earth’s surface? Scientists are still working out some of the details, but with the help of equipment used when studying earthquakes, they know the Earth is made up of layers.

Inside the Earth

The Earth is made up of different layers.

The core

Let’s start at the very centre of the Earth. The word ‘core’ means the central part of something, for example, an apple has a core. The Earth has an inner core and an outer core. Scientists think that the inner core is solid and mainly made of iron. Iron is very hard – that’s why knights used it to make their armour. The outer core is also mostly iron, but this layer is liquid (melted) iron.

The mantle

The next layer is called the mantle. It is made of rock. It is very hot in this part of the Earth, causing the rock to behave a little bit like a liquid and a solid.

The crust

The crust is the part of the Earth that we walk on. Compared to the other layers, it is quite thin and breakable. You can think of the crust of the Earth as being a bit like the crust of a pie – although this crust is 5–70 km deep depending on whether you are under the ocean or on top of a mountain! The Earth’s crust is not one continuous surface like on a tennis or soccer ball. The crust is ‘broken’ into enormous pieces called tectonic plates.