Deep below the crust of Earth, past the thick mantle and liquid outer core, lies a 1,220-kilometer (760 mile) ball of solid inner core.
But a new study has suggested that the inner core is not solid at all, instead forming a ‘superionic state’ with hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, making it unlike either a liquid or a solid.
We can’t exactly drill down the 6,371 km (3,959 miles) to the center of the Earth to check what’s going on, so scientists use Earth’s natural drill – seismic waves from earthquakes – to understand the composition of our planet.
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