Earth, a Giant Pinball Machine

An anonymous reader writes "Scientists have long probed Earth's interior by monitoring seismic waves (if earthquakes don't make them, they can be induced with explosives, and one nuke test actually triggered an earthquake!), which reveal the inner structure of the planet. But what if the method is wrong? LiveScience reports on a new study suggesting Earth is like a pinball machine, with sound waves careening around before they get to the surface. What is interpreted as a broad layer change could be nothing more than a localized density variation."

Comments

fooled again

[horati0]

i hate it when a broad layer change turns out to be a localized density variation!

The core

[oz_ko]

Nooooooooooooooo..... don't mess with the Earth's core. Don't you know it'll stop spinning and then we'll be all stuffed.

We'll have to watch the movie "The Core" to the end to see how we fix it and that willl cause the extinction of our species.

pinball, schimball

[BortQ]

Bah! This is just LiveScience trying to scam us to keep on feeding in the quarters.

The longest ST episode title

[Scrameustache]

our model of the Earth's interior

"For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky"

I can't see the words "Earth's interior" without thinking of that title. : )

East L.

[Tablizer]

In a typical survey, geologists generate seismic waves, typically tens to hundreds of yards (meters) long, by igniting sticks of dynamite underground or vibrating the surface with a large, bouncing truck on hydraulic suspension.

And you thought low-riders were all play.