We’ve all wondered what is in the depths of the Earth. Well now, scientists may have found the answer to it. Researchers have discovered that the structure of the Earth’s core differs from that of any other form of matter. It is ‘superionic’. Yu He is a physicist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Yu is a lead author of a study. The research is out this month in the journal Nature. He said the calculations challenged what researchers once understood about the inner core.
What is furthermore intriguing, is the fact that he and his team found the inner core creates a “superionic state” made up of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon. He said it’s unlike any solid or liquid form.
“It is quite abnormal,” He said in a statement to USA TODAY. “The solidification of iron at the inner core boundary does not change the mobility of these light elements. And the convection of light elements is continuous in the inner core.”
More research needed
As the researchers couldn’t examine the Earth‘s core directly, they obtained earthquake data to develop simulations that reproduced the pressures and temperatures observed there. Instead of a solid compacted iron alloy ball, the study found superheated solid and liquid states known as “superionic” during the simulations.
Well, now, even though we do know what lies in the core of the earth. There’s one question yet to answer: Why is this superionic form found in the Earth’s inner core? Answering this question, Yu He said that more research will be needed to understand the “superionic” core of the earth. “I think more studies are needed to explain other seismic features, such as seismic anisotropy, in the inner core,” he told ABC Science News.
This discovery, along with others like it, may one-day help earth scientists in solving some fundamental but difficult challenges such as when the inner core started to take shape. In any case, the core of the planet definitely requires more scrutiny, Dr. He said.