By Terralyn Schultz Recent studies from scientists in China suggest that Earth's Inner core may have stopped turning and may even begin to go in the reverse direction. The Earth’s inner core is the deepest layer of the planet and is surrounded by thousands of miles of different materials. The first layer is the crust followed by the mantle; these two layers occupy about 85% of the Earth’s volume. After the mantle is the outer core which is the fluid rock that surrounds the inner core, allowing it to rotate at different speeds compared to the rest of the Earth. Lastly comes the inner core, a solid ball of extremely hot iron with a radius of about 2,220 miles. This core is near to the size of Mars and contains nearly one third of Earth’s mass. In the study conducted by Yi Yang, associate research scientist at Peking University, and Xiaodong Song, Peking University chair professor it was found that the seismic records from 2010 to 2020 have had little to no change while records from 1980 to 1990 had obvious change. The scientists theorize that the records showing a lack of change in recent years may be due to the Earth’s core slowing, stopping, and possibly changing directions. Although the data analysis is valid Hrvoje Tkalcic, a geophysicist at the Australian National University, who was not involved in the study, argued that the inner core doesn’t ever come to a stop and thinks that the results could mean that the core is now more in sync with the rest of the Earth. The scientists all agree that more research is needed to shed light on the situation. What impact does this have on day to day living? Well, not much. Tkalcic stated that there is, “Nothing cataclysmic happening”. Yang and Song say that any small differences in electromagnetic and/or gravitational forces could possibly cause changes in the inner core’s rotation. There is also a theory that the Earth’s inner core has a 70 year rotation cycle so this could be normal. When asked about how she felt on this topic Siwah Welterlen, a senior at West Valley High School said she didn’t know much about how the whole system worked but thought it, “Sounded pretty interesting”. The inner and outer cores are connected in more ways than one. The magnetic field that the outer core creates causes the inner core’s rotation which is also related to the mantle’s gravitational effects. Discovering the operations of the inner core could help uncover more information about the Earth’s depths and how they function. Source: Kolirin, Lianne. “Earth's inner core may have stopped turning and could go into reverse, study suggests.” CNN, 26 January 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/world/earth-core-turning-scli-scn-intl/index.html. Accessed 28 January 2023.
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