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'Electric Earth' Could Explain Planet's Rotation
sciencehabit writes "When it comes to Earth's rotation, you might think geophysicists have pretty much everything figured out. Not quite. In order to explain some variations in the way our planet spins, Earth's mantle — the layer of hot, softened rock that lies between the crust and core — must conduct electricity, an ability that the mantle as we know it shouldn't have. Now, a new study (academic paper) finds that iron monoxide, which makes up 9% of the mantle, actually does conduct electricity just like a metal, but only at temperatures and pressures found far beneath the surface."
Full text available on the arXiv, for those without a subscription to PRL: http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.5068
FeO is Ferrous Oxide not Iron Monoxide.
If I disagree with you it's because you are wrong.
Path of least resistance does not apply to electricity. It follows every field gradient and takes every path as fast as it can. The current through each path is limited by the reduction of the gradient caused by the charge already along the path, a.k.a. resistance.