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The center of the Earth is almost 4,000 mile ( 6,400 kilometers ) beneath our feet . To put that into linguistic context , the deepest world have ever drilled is 7.6 miles ( 12.2 kilometer ) down , and it took geologist nearly 20 years to get that far , accord toSmithsonian mag .

Fortunately , scientists do n’t have to tunnel inside our planet to study it . By measuring seismic waves journey through Earth , researcher have developed a solid understanding of its canonic inner social organisation . So , what ’s insideEarth ?

illustration of earth�s interior with the mantle, inner and outer core split into layers

Our planet is layered like an onion.

Planet Earth is broadly composed of a crust , mantle and heart and soul . The impertinence hosts all known sprightliness , but it ’s merely Earth ’s outer casing , report for only 1 % of the major planet ’s full book . The blanket , or mediate layer , make up 84 % of Earth ’s bulk , and the inmost bed , the core , makes up the final 15 % , according to theUniversity of Illinois Urbana - Champaign .

The crust

The impudence is split into oceanic impudence and continental crust . The oceanic crust is 3 to 6 miles ( 5 to 10 kilometer ) thick and site beneath the ocean , while the continental crust is up to 50 miles ( 80 km ) wooden-headed , agree to theSeismin projectat University College London .

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The mantle

The mantlepiece is n’t fluid , but it ’s less rigid than sinking oceanic crust , Sunyoung Park , an adjunct professor who studies Earth ’s internal structure at the University of Chicago , recite Live Science . " In geological timescale[s ] , it ’s almost dissemble like a fluid , although it ’s solid rock , " she read .

The mantle is made up of different minerals , but bridgmanite is plausibly the most abundant , Park note .

This part of Earth play to a deepness of around 1,800 international mile ( 2,900 kilometre ) , according to the Seismin projection , and there ’s an upper mantle and a small cape . Earth ’s internal temperature increases between the limit of the upper mantle and the bottom of the lower mantle , ranging from around 1,800 to 6,700 degrees Fahrenheit ( 1,000 to 3,700 degree Celsius ) , harmonize to Space.com .

a lava lake in iceland with molten rock at the center of a rocky depression

Earth’s oceanic crust is mostly made up of basalt rock.

The core

A 1,400 - international mile - thick ( 2,300 km ) ocean of liquefied atomic number 26 and nickel marks the commencement of Earth ’s pith . This fluid ocean , known as the outer core , surrounds a mostly solid iron ball — around 1,520 miles ( 2,440 kilometre ) astray — called the inner core . The liquid iron out pith vortex around the internal core , giving Earth its magnetic field .

Our planet form around 4.6 billion years ago , and as it chill , hard elements such as atomic number 26 and nickel migrate in to create the inwardness . The inside of Earth is still cool down , and as it does so , the inner essence continues to form , Park said .

— Why does Earth have magnetised poles ?

A diagram depicting Earth’s magnetic field.

Earth’s core gives the planet its magnetic field.

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" Just like water becoming crank , Fe is getting solidify and becoming [ the ] inner heart and soul , so [ the ] inner core is actually growing , " Park say . But it ’s growing more slowly than a human fingernail , she added .

a photo of an eye looking through a keyhole

The inner core is about 9,400 F ( 5,200 vitamin C ) — about as hot as the airfoil of the sun — but tremendous pressure sustain it mostly self-coloured . Inside the internal core is the innermost core , a 450 - mile - wide of the mark ( 725 kilometre ) solid metal ball .

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