The Earth's core is in an 'abnormal state' according to new study

We know there’s a lot going on, and we don’t want to alarm anyone, but the Earth’s core is in a "quite abnormal state" and we thought people should know about it.

While it was previously thought that the core of the Earth was solid and made of iron, a new study has found that it could contain “lighter” elements, changing our understanding of its structure.

Scientists at the Institute of Geochemistry at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGCAS) have released new research gathered from quantum mechanics theory and the study of earthquakes, Newsweek reports.

Their findings? The core could be a more fluid consistency than we though, comprised of both liquid and solid elements.

The core could look different to anything we thought beforeWikimedia/Creative Commons

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Mindblowingly, it’s also 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit which reportedly means it’s also hotter than the sun.

Speaking about the “abnormal” findings, researcher He Ye said: “Our result shows that [in] the Earth's inner core some light elements, such as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, behave like liquids and diffuse freely in the lattice of solid iron.

“This suggests that the inner core is not a normal solid but a composition of solid iron sublattice and liquid-like light elements.”

The study, published in Nature, is titled “Superionic iron alloys and their seismic velocities in Earth's inner core”.

It could prove to be a major development in the scientific world and also change the way we understand the Earth's magnetic field, which they not allegedly believe is generated by moving liquid metal which combines with the inner core.

He Yu added: “It is very interesting that both the inner core structure and geomagnetic field have shown observable changes in the past few decades.

“In this case, the core structure may change with the geomagnetic field. We have started related simulations. Hopefully, we can show our results in a short future.”

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