Seismic Mystery Solved: Scientists Find a New State of Matter at Earth’s Center

Chinese researchers have discovered that interstitial carbon in iron-carbon alloys behaves in a superionic, liquid-like state under Earth’s core pressure and temperature conditions. Beneath Earth’s molten outer core lies a solid central region, the inner core, a compact sphere made of an iron light-element alloy pressed by more than 3.3 million atmospheres and heated to [...]

from SciTechDaily https://ift.tt/D6ykI7O