We have known for some time that the inner core of our planet is iron. Seismic waves show it is solid but it is not solid enough to be a ball of iron. New analyses show it could be a superionic iron alloy in which through the matrix of iron atoms a liquid made from hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon.
Image by Reto Scheiwiller from Pixabay
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An unknown world is hiding under our feet. And at its very center, the inner core is hiding. A ball of a diameter of roughly 1200 kilometers. About 20 % of the diameter of the Earth or 70 % of the diameter of the Moon. And we are unlikely to ever get to visit.
But we can be sure the inner core is strange. We are relegated to seismic waves to research it. By doing detailed analyses of this invaluable source of information about the depths of our planet we can figure out a lot of interesting things. Even it is hard.
We are decently certain that the inner core is made by iron and a few other elements. We have already proven that the inner core is made from solid matter. But the seismic wave moves through the inner core a bit slower than if they just passed through a solid ball of iron. That tells us the matter in there will be just a bit softer.
A team of Chinese experts recently found out that the inner core of the Earth is even stranger than we thought. They simulated the insane temperatures and pressures that we expect to exist at the center of the planet and tried to find out what kinds of matter could exist there. In the end, they came to the conclusion that certain iron alloys create a superionic matter that could explain the observed seismic waves.
The atoms in the superionic alloy create a solid matrix that gives the matter its shape. But atoms of smaller elements can flow through the matrix almost like a liquid. These elements should be mostly hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon.
The Chinese team has calculated how seismic waves should pass through such superionic alloys and it nicely fits the seismological observations we get on Earth. And the model also corresponds to the other properties of the inner core we know of.
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