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Earth's Inner Core Is Solid, But Squishier Than Previously Thought (abc.net.au)

brindafella writes: Earthquakes are telling scientists more about the core of the Earth, specifically that it is squishier than previously thought (by about 2.5%.) Associate Professor Hrvoje Tkali & Thanh-Son Pham of the Australian National University have made sense of data collected by seismographs around the world to put new numbers on the density and pressure of the core. In Science magazine, they show that the pressure is 167.4 +/- 1.6 gigapascals (GPa) in Earth's center. For reference, standard atmospheric pressure is 101,325 pascals (Pa), so the center of the Earth is around 61 million times this pressure, but still 2.5% lower than expected.

66 comments

  1. Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    For Americans: "101.325 pascals (Pa)"

    1. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by rrohbeck · · Score: 2

      How much is that in football fields? Or, since we're talking pressure, olympic swimming pools per football field?

    2. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      zero

    3. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      No, that would be for Europeans. One ATM of pressure is 101325 Pascals, the the Americans would write that as given in the summary, 101,325 - and many Europeans would write it as 101.325. Also for we Americans, you could write 14.7 psi...

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    4. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      the the Americans would write that as given in the summary, 101,325

      Not just Americans, but also most of Asia, except for Indonesia. Even in Europe, the UK and some parts of Switzerland use a decimal point, although the Swiss use an apostrophe as a thousands separator.

      Here is a map. Although it looks close to a tie, it really isn't because the areas using an American style decimal point include densely populated countries such as China, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan, while the decimal-comma areas include lots of deserts, tundra, and rainforest.

      The dot wins.

    5. Re: Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh beauhd, thank you for continuing to lower the bar here on slashdot.

    6. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, you know they have courses in communication. Take them.

    7. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Funny

      No shanghai bitch, it's not a popularity contest.

      Ok, lets go by nukes instead. Of the 9 countries known to possess nuclear weapons, 7 use the decimal point.

      The dot wins again.

    8. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you mean to say, "for us Americans"? You don't really say, "for we," do you? LOL.

    9. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by TomGreenhaw · · Score: 1

      For Americans: "101.325 pascals (Pa)"

      We use commas to separate thousands, so for this American: "101,325 pascals (Pa)"
      However for most non-scientific Americans this is also wrong.
      Its 29.921252402 inches of mercury.

      --
      Greed is the root of all evil.
    10. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Also for we Americans, you could write 14.7 psi...

      How many standard[1] footballs is that?

      [1] i.e. not Patriot ones.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    11. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The dot wins.

      BIGLY!

    12. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      It's obviously 748,931 Libraries of Congress.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    13. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      He's working through Carnegie's tome on winning friends and influencing people, first. Unfortunately, he's going using the serial-killer's Cliff Notes edition to do so...

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    14. Re:Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      That would be 13 PSI (as opposed to one Brady, which is about 11.3 PSI).

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    15. Re: Summary says "101,325 pascals (Pa)" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL.

  2. 101,325 pascals (Pa) ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Should it rather be 101,325 kPa ? ( = 101325 Pa) for the standard atmospheric pressure? This would make the inner pressure 'only' 1,6 million times higher than SAP.

    1. Re:101,325 pascals (Pa) ?? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      No. 1 ATM is ~101,325 Pa, or about 14.7 psi. Your number would be 1000 ATM.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    2. Re:101,325 pascals (Pa) ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think the GP was saying 101.325 kPa, which is 101,325 Pa. I think they were using a comma for the decimal instead of the period used in the USA and other places. Notice the "(= 101325 Pa)" after "101,325 kPa".

    3. Re:101,325 pascals (Pa) ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you for correcting the anti-science denialist troll of no value, you are correct.

    4. Re:101,325 pascals (Pa) ?? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Then I'm not sure why he wrote what he wrote? That's exactly what the summary stated.

      --
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  3. Predicted over 50 years ago... by unitron · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...by Laura Petrie on "The Dick Van Dyke Show".

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    15:50

    --

    I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.

    1. Re:Predicted over 50 years ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Snappy reference!

    2. Re:Predicted over 50 years ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now that's just amazing

    3. Re:Predicted over 50 years ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You win the obscure reference of the day award.

      It's also striking how pretty Mary Tyler Moore was.

    4. Re:Predicted over 50 years ago... by goombah99 · · Score: 1

      How many years were you waiting to unload that braincell?

      --
      Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    5. Re:Predicted over 50 years ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yikes.

    6. Re: Predicted over 50 years ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you disagree you like men.

      Mary would have gotten it.

  4. 61 million times? by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 1

    This is not an area I know much about, but the numbers quoted seem screwy to me. How does 167.4 GPa (167,400,000,000 Pa) / 101,325 Pa (by my calculations 1,652,110) come out as 61,000,000?

    1. Re:61 million times? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 2

      Reverse 1 and 6 and divide by 10. Decadyslexia disease affects primarily tired editors.

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      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    2. Re:61 million times? by mentil · · Score: 1

      Decadyslexia disease affects primarily tired editors.

      I hear Viagra works pretty well for that.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    3. Re:61 million times? by mentil · · Score: 1

      Oh, wait, nevermind. Thought you said something else.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
  5. Specifically the part right over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    San Jose, California, concentrated over The Grove apartments...

    1. Re: Specifically the part right over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Grove is in Los Angeles, Ivan.

    2. Re: Specifically the part right over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You think it makes a difference down at the core, Pelican Chris?

      (Your goiter or dewlap is getting bigger, Chris. When's your next doctor appointment?)

  6. Is Thought To Be Solid by blindvic · · Score: 1

    > Earth's Inner Core Is Solid, But Squishier Than Previously Thought So following the logic, is should say: "Earth's Inner Core Now Is Thought To Be Solid, But Squishier Than Previously Thought."

  7. Re: My balls are squishy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No can do, unless you have a hot tub from the 1980s?

  8. Re:As far as we know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you don't understand the scientific method, perhaps you'd be better off on WND than on Slashdot.

  9. Re:It is said that if one digs deep enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How deep did Khoshoggi dig? Too deep.

  10. Hot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That Nice!

    So were do the heavy red hot things go wenn people drop them? /Pnic

  11. Units by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    What exactly is the SI unit of squishiness anyway?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Units by jd · · Score: 4, Funny

      Figs. One metre of lateral motion when crushed by one Pascal of pressure is one fig. The energy so created is thus measured in fig newtons.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    2. Re:Units by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What exactly is the SI unit of squishiness anyway?

        m^2/N

    3. Re:Units by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      It's a measure of strength, so it's unit is the Pascal. (In practice, for geological and engineering materials, MPa is the day-to-day unit.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  12. Re:My balls are squishy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Even the trolls here suck now. Rob Malda went from what used to be a great site to talking about baseball and basketball. Someone, please take me back to 1999.

    *** WARNING ***

    Don't click that link.

  13. This is why people dont vaccinate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Scientific articles like this saying without a doubt earths core is squishy because scientist say it is make people doubt the value of vaccines. After all someone might doubt the ability of these omicient scientist to know for sure that the core of the earth is squishy.

    I am a big believer in the absolute infallible omnipotent power of scientist, so i now accept the fact that vaccines are good and the core is squishy. If scientist tell me tomorrow the core is rmade of silly putty i will accept thos new scientific facts because i believe in science. However for the unwashed racist southern masses who do not accept the infallible power of science, a better technique might be to lead with the reasons why sientist now believe the core is squishy.

    If you want to win hearts and minds it is best to give explanations. No you should not expect people to read the article. People read headlines. If the headline gives a skwed versions of science that is what they will accept.

    Fifety-nine years ago the headline would have been written something like this:
    `Dr Hrvoje Tkali and PhD Scholar Than-Son Phm have published an article that describes the use coorelation techniques from seismic sensors to determine that the earths core is likely solid with a high coefficient of elasticity`

    This is entirely differnt from saying Scientis have discovered the planets core js squishy

    1. Re: This is why people dont vaccinate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Js squishy. Is that a new JavaScript library?

  14. Re:It is said that if one digs deep enough by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
    Errr, let's see. That would be for a PP(O2) of 2 atmospheres, and for normal air at 20% v/v O2, that implies a total air pressure of 10 atmospheres. I get that at between 20 and 30km depth, depending on the model of atmospheric compression you choose.

    Or were you just trying to be funny?

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  15. Seen but not seen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is Winter Sunlight?

  16. Energeian Planes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He sends them a powerful delusion.

    What is Winter Sunlight?

  17. Fudge factor needed! Help by lcam · · Score: 1

    What does squishy mean? That the earths core is compressible or that it is less viscous than thought? The article seems to think compressible.

    Sounds like scientists have thought of a way to keep their theory alive and this is not the first time they have used this "fudge factor" technique. Just to mention a few other "new" elements added to theories recently as fudge factor elements that keep theories alive:

    Black Holes - Gravitational theory and measurements of the visible stellar systems don't result in the working model of what is known about galaxies.

    Dark Matter - Gravitational theory and measurements of the visible universe don't result in the working model of what is known about systems of galaxies.

    Dark Energy - Gravitational theory and measurements of the visible universe don't result in the working model of what is known about systems of galaxies.

    And now: the center of the Earth is in a non-liquid type of compressible pseudo-liquid/gas - all because measurements of the "visible universe" don't result in the working model of what is known about the planet earth.

    The emerging pattern here is that the scientific community are ever willing to invent ever more non-scientific explanations involving invisible, dark, obscure un-measurable and fantastic elements and continue with their precious theories.

    I guess the question becomes: Who cares? All we need is an education system that churns out minds willing to accept the spam while they continue to muddle away with their coveted derivatives until the next correction is needed.

  18. Re:Fudge factor needed! Help by whit3 · · Score: 1

    What does squishy mean? That the earths core is compressible or that it is less viscous than thought? The article seems to think compressible. Sounds like scientists have thought of a way to keep their theory alive and ...

    Young's modulus is the 'compressibility' that, in combination with density, determines the speed of (and the refraction and reflection of) P-type sound waves.

    Just as you can see the extra sparkle of a diamond next to a piece of glass, the refraction of seismic waves allows one to determine the elasticity and density of the medium through which the wave passes. It's hard, though, to figure out a full interior structure and composition of the planet, and this just means a new evaluation of that Young's modulus for a bit of solid thousands of kilometers underfoot, at pressures and temperatures that don't allow easy laboratory experiments.

    So, outside the laboratory, you just wait for random earthquakes to make a lot of not-ultrasound picture fragments seen by seismometers near the antipodal points.

    'Scientists have thought' isn't what happened here; the job of theorists to imagine a composition with mechanical properties to fit the new Young's modulus value is the thinking part, which happens next. The reported best-fit Young's modulus value is not thought, but observation. Ranting about 'thoughts' is just spin; it sounds less ridiculous than ranting against observations.

    The reason we should care about this work, is that most of the planet we're standing on is under pressures higher than any bit of matter we can get a close look at. So is most of the matter in the solar system.

  19. Re:It is said that if one digs deep enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    19%. Back to pushing crack for you.

  20. Did they account for people in the air? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Airforce one was flying, that'd explain a 'yewwwwwge' part of that 2.5% :)

  21. Error in article? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    101325 Pa * 61 million = 6181 GPa. It is not 167 Gpa as written in the article...

  22. Re:Fudge factor needed! Help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Black Holes - Gravitational theory and measurements of the visible stellar systems don't result in the working model of what is known about galaxies."

    Not sure what you are talking about here. Looking at the orbits of the stars whipping around the center of the Milky Way (Sagittarius A*) indicates that there must be a very large mass there, but there is no light being emitted from that location with all the mass. Nothing but a black hole fits that description. In fact, the Event Horizon Telescope project is in the process of imaging the "shadow" of that black hole to see if it matches the predictions of the General Theory of Relativity.

    As it regards dark matter and dark energy, they are admittedly place holders. But there are multiple lines of evidence for dark matter, just no direct detection yet (as in we haven't found a dark matter particle). Modified theories of gravity fail to explain observed properties of galaxy clusters as well as the characteristics of the CMBR, while dark matter does.