Earth’s Interior Structure
📋 What it is
Earth has layers — crust, mantle, outer and inner core — each with different material and temperature.
🗣️ Coach says
Earth is layered like an onion. The thin CRUST we live on sits over the thick, hot MANTLE (slowly-flowing rock), then the liquid OUTER CORE (whose motion makes Earth’s magnetic field), and a solid INNER CORE of iron, hotter than the Sun’s surface. We know this mostly from how seismic waves travel.
🧠 Memory hook
Layers: crust → mantle (flowing rock) → liquid outer core (makes magnetic field) → solid iron inner core.
😂 Giggle
Why was the metamorphic rock so stressed?
Because it was always under pressure!
😲 Whoa!
Earth’s solid inner core is about as hot as the surface of the Sun (~5,500 °C) — yet the crushing pressure keeps it solid instead of melting.
✅ Quick check: What creates Earth’s magnetic field?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
The motion of the liquid iron outer core — swirling molten metal acts like a giant dynamo.
The moving liquid outer core generates the magnetic field.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Cut an apple or peach and see its layers — Earth is layered similarly, crust to core.