How do we know the Earth's core is Molten with Seismology?
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
My current knowledge about how the core of the earth was discovered is the observation made from non returning/reflecting sonar signal when sent to deeper depths through the earth's crust/mantle. How was it inferred that the the core was molten?
acoustics earth planets geophysics
edited Nov 26 at 20:28
Qmechanic♦
100k121821133
asked Nov 26 at 20:08
LiNKeR
395
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
My current knowledge about how the core of the earth was discovered is the observation made from non returning/reflecting sonar signal when sent to deeper depths through the earth's crust/mantle. How was it inferred that the the core was molten?
acoustics earth planets geophysics
edited Nov 26 at 20:28
Qmechanic♦
100k121821133
asked Nov 26 at 20:08
LiNKeR
395
It is currently thought that there exists an outer core and an inner core. The outer core is molten, but the inner core is thought to be solid. The methods used to determine this are basically described in Ron Jeffries' answer.
– StephenG
Nov 26 at 22:37
4
BTW: I (with help) just landed a seismometer on Mars a few hours ago.
– JEB
Nov 27 at 1:52
When you say 'sonar signals' are 'sent', that suggests that artificial signals are sent using some kind of seismologist's apparatus. That is certainly not the case -- such signals would never make it down that far. Instead, the vibrations caused by earthquakes are monitored by different stations around the world.
– TonyK
Nov 27 at 2:19
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
My current knowledge about how the core of the earth was discovered is the observation made from non returning/reflecting sonar signal when sent to deeper depths through the earth's crust/mantle. How was it inferred that the the core was molten?
acoustics earth planets geophysics
edited Nov 26 at 20:28
Qmechanic♦
100k121821133
asked Nov 26 at 20:08
LiNKeR
395
My current knowledge about how the core of the earth was discovered is the observation made from non returning/reflecting sonar signal when sent to deeper depths through the earth's crust/mantle. How was it inferred that the the core was molten?
acoustics earth planets geophysics
acoustics earth planets geophysics
edited Nov 26 at 20:28
Qmechanic♦
100k121821133
asked Nov 26 at 20:08
LiNKeR
395
edited Nov 26 at 20:28
Qmechanic♦
100k121821133
asked Nov 26 at 20:08
LiNKeR
395
edited Nov 26 at 20:28
Qmechanic♦
100k121821133
edited Nov 26 at 20:28
Qmechanic♦
100k121821133
edited Nov 26 at 20:28
Qmechanic♦
100k121821133
100k121821133
asked Nov 26 at 20:08
LiNKeR
395
asked Nov 26 at 20:08
LiNKeR
395
asked Nov 26 at 20:08
LiNKeR
395
395
It is currently thought that there exists an outer core and an inner core. The outer core is molten, but the inner core is thought to be solid. The methods used to determine this are basically described in Ron Jeffries' answer.
– StephenG
Nov 26 at 22:37
4
BTW: I (with help) just landed a seismometer on Mars a few hours ago.
– JEB
Nov 27 at 1:52
When you say 'sonar signals' are 'sent', that suggests that artificial signals are sent using some kind of seismologist's apparatus. That is certainly not the case -- such signals would never make it down that far. Instead, the vibrations caused by earthquakes are monitored by different stations around the world.
– TonyK
Nov 27 at 2:19
add a comment |
It is currently thought that there exists an outer core and an inner core. The outer core is molten, but the inner core is thought to be solid. The methods used to determine this are basically described in Ron Jeffries' answer.
– StephenG
Nov 26 at 22:37
4
BTW: I (with help) just landed a seismometer on Mars a few hours ago.
– JEB
Nov 27 at 1:52
When you say 'sonar signals' are 'sent', that suggests that artificial signals are sent using some kind of seismologist's apparatus. That is certainly not the case -- such signals would never make it down that far. Instead, the vibrations caused by earthquakes are monitored by different stations around the world.
– TonyK
Nov 27 at 2:19
It is currently thought that there exists an outer core and an inner core. The outer core is molten, but the inner core is thought to be solid. The methods used to determine this are basically described in Ron Jeffries' answer.
– StephenG
Nov 26 at 22:37
It is currently thought that there exists an outer core and an inner core. The outer core is molten, but the inner core is thought to be solid. The methods used to determine this are basically described in Ron Jeffries' answer.
– StephenG
Nov 26 at 22:37
4
4
BTW: I (with help) just landed a seismometer on Mars a few hours ago.
– JEB
Nov 27 at 1:52
BTW: I (with help) just landed a seismometer on Mars a few hours ago.
– JEB
Nov 27 at 1:52
When you say 'sonar signals' are 'sent', that suggests that artificial signals are sent using some kind of seismologist's apparatus. That is certainly not the case -- such signals would never make it down that far. Instead, the vibrations caused by earthquakes are monitored by different stations around the world.
– TonyK
Nov 27 at 2:19
When you say 'sonar signals' are 'sent', that suggests that artificial signals are sent using some kind of seismologist's apparatus. That is certainly not the case -- such signals would never make it down that far. Instead, the vibrations caused by earthquakes are monitored by different stations around the world.
– TonyK
Nov 27 at 2:19
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
11
down vote
There are basically two types of waves - shear (s) waves and primary (p) compression waves.
P waves can travel through solids and liquids but s waves do not travel in fluids.
That p waves, but not s waves, are detected from events occurring on the other side of the globe tells you that there is fluid in the way.
This is the basic picture; it is complicated/enhanced by refraction and dispersion of the waves.
answered Nov 26 at 20:24
Rob Jeffries
67.6k7133228
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "151"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fphysics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f443500%2fhow-do-we-know-the-earths-core-is-molten-with-seismology%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
11
down vote
There are basically two types of waves - shear (s) waves and primary (p) compression waves.
P waves can travel through solids and liquids but s waves do not travel in fluids.
That p waves, but not s waves, are detected from events occurring on the other side of the globe tells you that there is fluid in the way.
This is the basic picture; it is complicated/enhanced by refraction and dispersion of the waves.
answered Nov 26 at 20:24
Rob Jeffries
67.6k7133228
add a comment |
up vote
11
down vote
There are basically two types of waves - shear (s) waves and primary (p) compression waves.
P waves can travel through solids and liquids but s waves do not travel in fluids.
That p waves, but not s waves, are detected from events occurring on the other side of the globe tells you that there is fluid in the way.
This is the basic picture; it is complicated/enhanced by refraction and dispersion of the waves.
answered Nov 26 at 20:24
Rob Jeffries
67.6k7133228
add a comment |
up vote
11
down vote
up vote
11
down vote
There are basically two types of waves - shear (s) waves and primary (p) compression waves.
P waves can travel through solids and liquids but s waves do not travel in fluids.
That p waves, but not s waves, are detected from events occurring on the other side of the globe tells you that there is fluid in the way.
This is the basic picture; it is complicated/enhanced by refraction and dispersion of the waves.
answered Nov 26 at 20:24
Rob Jeffries
67.6k7133228
There are basically two types of waves - shear (s) waves and primary (p) compression waves.
P waves can travel through solids and liquids but s waves do not travel in fluids.
That p waves, but not s waves, are detected from events occurring on the other side of the globe tells you that there is fluid in the way.
This is the basic picture; it is complicated/enhanced by refraction and dispersion of the waves.
answered Nov 26 at 20:24
Rob Jeffries
67.6k7133228
answered Nov 26 at 20:24
Rob Jeffries
67.6k7133228
answered Nov 26 at 20:24
Rob Jeffries
67.6k7133228
answered Nov 26 at 20:24
Rob Jeffries
67.6k7133228
67.6k7133228
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Physics Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fphysics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f443500%2fhow-do-we-know-the-earths-core-is-molten-with-seismology%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
It is currently thought that there exists an outer core and an inner core. The outer core is molten, but the inner core is thought to be solid. The methods used to determine this are basically described in Ron Jeffries' answer.
– StephenG
Nov 26 at 22:37
4
BTW: I (with help) just landed a seismometer on Mars a few hours ago.
– JEB
Nov 27 at 1:52
When you say 'sonar signals' are 'sent', that suggests that artificial signals are sent using some kind of seismologist's apparatus. That is certainly not the case -- such signals would never make it down that far. Instead, the vibrations caused by earthquakes are monitored by different stations around the world.
– TonyK
Nov 27 at 2:19