Warm up/

5.a: Compare and contrast the Earth’s crust, mantleand core including temperature, density and composition.

True or False Be able to defend your answer!

1. The inner core of the Earth is solid and made primarily of iron.

2. The layer of the Earth between the crust and the core is the mantle.

3. Scientists consider the physical layers in two ways-by their chemical composition and by their physical properties.

S6E5.a: Compare and contrast the

Earth’s crust, mantle and coreincluding temperature, density and

composition.Layers of the Earth

Unit of study: Geosphere

The Earth’s crust is like the skin of an apple. Turn to an elbow partner and discuss why this statement is true.

Next, come up with another example.

Geosphere

• Solid part of the Earth’s

crust that consists of all

rock, and the soils and

sediments on Earth’s

surface.

• Most located in Earth’s

interior

How do we know Earth’s Interior?

• Seismic Waves: the waves

that travel through the

Earth’s interior during an

earthquake.

• Altered by the type of

material that it travels

through.

Crust• Thinnest,

outer layer.

• Made up of

light elements

• less than 1%

of Earth’s

mass

Continental-Thickest-less dense-

granite & Oceanic-Thinnest-Most

dense-Basalt Crust

Lithosphere

• Outer layer

• cool, rigid

• divided up into

huge tectonic

plates

The lithosphere (crust and upper

mantle) is divided into separate plates

which move very slowly in response to

the “convecting” part of the mantle.

Mantle

• Layer beneath the crust

• 64% of mass of Earth

• 2,900 km thick

• Made of

– lithosphere

– asthenosphere

– mesosphere

Asthenosphere

• 250 km thick

• plastic like layer made

of molten rock

• flows very slowly and

allows tectonic plates to

move across

Convection Currents

The next time you heat anything like soup or water in a pan you can watch

the convection currents move in the liquid. When the convection

currents flow in the asthenospherethey also move the crust. The crust gets a free ride with these currents, like the cork in this illustration.

Safety Caution: Don’t get your face too close to the boiling water!

Mesosphere

• 2,250 km thick

• “middle” sphere

• lower part of

mantle

Core• 3,248 km radius sphere

of hot, dense nickel and

iron

• 4,000 - 5,000 °C

• 1/3 of the Earth’s mass

• Made of

–Outer Core

–Inner Core

Inner & Outer Core

• Outer Core; 2,200

km thick, outer shell,

made of liquid nickel

and iron

• Inner Core: 1,228 km

radius; a sphere of

solid iron

Inner Core

Solid

Outer Core

Liquid

Mantle

Crust

Lithosphere – Crust and

Upper Layer of the Mantle

Layer of the Mantle

(asthenosphere) that

consists of hot rock of

tar-like consistency,

which slowly moves

Mr. Lee’s Layers of the Earth Rap

What do these two images tell us about the layers of the Earth?

Temperatureincreases as depth increases

Look at the information in the graph and

table below. What’s the relationship

between depth and density/pressure?

Density and Pressureincrease as depth increases

Add this statement to the

arrow going down on your

foldable.

Temperature, Density and

Pressure increases as depth increases

Which layer of the Earth has the

greatest temperature, pressure, and

density?

Core

The earth is layered with a lithosphere (crust and uppermost mantle), convecting mantle, and a dense metallic core.

Summary

http://www.learner.org/interactives/dynamicearth/structure.html

Pressure, temperature, and density increases as depth increases.

Student led ClosingS6E5.a: Compare and contrast the Earth’s crust, mantle and core including

temperature, density and composition.

Select Only One!

• What happens to the temperature & pressure

inside the Earth as depth increases?

• Explain the difference between the crust and

the lithosphere.