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New Kind of Metal Theorized To Be In the Earth's Lower Mantle

Posted by Soulskill on from the does-it-burn-as-well-as-dead-dinosaurs dept.

slew writes "This article talks about a study accepted to Physical Review Letters which theorizes that iron oxide goes through an insulator/metal phase change with high temperature and pressure. Originally it was thought to be a crystalline structure change, but now apparently it is theorized to be a new type of metallic state. This discovery might offer new insight on how the earth's magnetic field operates."

6 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Why don't they just ... by umberjon · · Score: 5, Funny

    dig a hole?

    1. Re:Why don't they just ... by Ironhandx · · Score: 5, Informative

      Because they are theorizing about layers of the core from which we can't even get a core sample, let alone a good look at. Deepest hole ever drilled is something like 12km and the depth at which this shit is is more in the 1000-2000km range than the 12km range.

      It should be noted that the reason that they had to stop @ 12km was that we havent been able to engineer any drill bits that can withstand the heat much below that. 15km is the theorized maximum drill depth with current technology but no one has even gotten close to that. Last attempt was still over 2km off.

  2. The earth... by jimmydigital · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... is so metal!

    --
    Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. -HLM
  3. Deepest hole ever drilled by mistigri · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Kola Superdeep Borehole is the deepest, reaching 12,262 metres (40,230 ft).

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole

  4. Re:How to experimentally verify? by sensei+moreh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Back when I was in grad school, high-end diamond anvil cells were typically achieving pressures on the order of 1 Mbar; so 140 GPa certainly sounds reasonable. Laser heating should enable one to get to 2200 deg C and beyond quite easily. I only got to play with our cell at room temperature.

    --
    Geology - it's not rocket science; it's rock science
  5. Re:would make sense though, no? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know, Grabbity. The force that grabs and hangs on to things. Magnets have it and pull metal things to them, the Earth has a magnetic field and pulls you to itself, therefore the force of grabbity must come from that magnetic field. (But why do you keep misspelling grabbity? Don't you know there's no "V" in the word "grab"?)