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Earth's Core Far Hotter Than Thought

Posted by timothy on from the might-as-well-be-walking-on-the-earth dept.

hessian writes "New measurements suggest the Earth's inner core is far hotter than prior experiments suggested, putting it at 6,000C — as hot as the Sun's surface. The solid iron core is actually crystalline, surrounded by liquid. But the temperature at which that crystal can form had been a subject of long-running debate. Experiments outlined in Science used X-rays to probe tiny samples of iron at extraordinary pressures to examine how the iron crystals form and melt."

7 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Oh noes! by funwithBSD · · Score: 5, Funny

    Global warming has reached the core!

    --
    Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
    1. Re:Oh noes! by DougOtto · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So a "racist joke" has to automatically be about "black people?" Who's the racist now?

      --
      Solving Unix problems since 1989...
    2. Re:Oh noes! by flibbidyfloo · · Score: 5, Funny

      He was talking in Fahrenheit degrees. I believe 6000 C is approximately equal to 2,000,000 F. At least if I remember what I learned from the American education system :)

    3. Re:Oh noes! by shentino · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Historically blacks have in fact been the most notoriously discriminated against race, so it's a good example.

    4. Re:Oh noes! by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Funny

      Could you clarify? I certainly wouldn't wand some random stranger on the internet thinking poorly of me.

  2. Far hotter? by omnichad · · Score: 5, Informative

    I may have misread, but I think this article is saying that 20% hotter is "far" hotter. Not the adjective I would use for 20%.

  3. Re:So is Gwyneth Paltrow by mrbester · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's because everybody tends to use the metric Helen (1k ship launching capability) instead of the more accurate Troy Helen (1.186k ships)...

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"