what are the 5 layers of the earth and give a brief description of each?

Question

please help!!

Answer 1

Heres something i copied and pasted from:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/brca/Geodetect/Earth%20Systems/earth%20layers.htm

Earth is composed of five main divisions or layers:
atmosphere, crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core.
This lesson will discuss the interactions between the sub-layers and how they affect the crust.

The layer we are most familiar with is the crust. Surprisingly, it is the thinnest layer of the four, despite how massive it seems to us. It is approximately 5 to 40 kilometers thick. There are two types of crust: continental crust and oceanic crust. The continental crust is the layer on which we live. The thicker portion of the crust is the continental portion, and likewise, the thinnest part is oceanic crust. The crust is ridged and brittle, but seemingly solid. This layer corresponds with the chocolate cover of the candy.

The continental crust is much lighter, or less dense, than the oceanic crust. Because the oceanic crust is more dense, it submerges below the lighter continental crust when the two collide. (Both types of crust ride on top of the solid lithosphere, which is considered part of the crust. The lithosphere then rides on top of the weaker, partially molten asthenosphere, which is part of the mantle).

The mantle is the layer second most familiar to us. The mantle in portions is solid and rocky, but also fluid and molten towards its outer edge in places. Because it is partially solid and partially molten, it can be compared to a plastic, solid but flexible like a Pink Pearl Eraser. It is believed to contain convection currents that drive the movement of crustal plates (refer to Floating Continents). As heat rises to the surface, pieces of crust float around like rafts on a pool, taking thousands of years to move. Mantle thickness ranges from 40 to 2900 kilometers. In our chocolate covered cherry analogy, it is the cream or fluid surrounding the cherry under the chocolate.

Below the mantle is the outer core. Scientists believe that the outer core is composed of a molten, metallic layer 2270 kilometers thick. This layer is believed to contain large amounts of nickel. Scientists have been able to determine that it is a liquid by monitoring earthquake waves as they pass through the Earth's core. The waves dissipate as they pass through this layer in a way that indicates it is liquid and not solid. This is the cherry.

If a chocolate covered cherry had a pit, it would be the inner core, a solid iron-rich mass with a radius of 1216 kilometers. At center of the Earth, the pressure from gravity is thought to be so high, that any material in this location would have to be a solid. Scientists believe that the Earth's magnetic fields are related to the orientations of the outer and inner core.

The following activity allows students to slice through the layers of Earth discovering the different properties of those layers.

That's everthing with the cherry on top!

Answer 2

It depends....

The atmosphere is divided into five layers. It is thickest near the surface and thins out with height until it eventually merges with space.

1) The troposphere is the first layer above the surface and contains half of the Earth's atmosphere. Weather occurs in this layer.
2) Many jet aircrafts fly in the stratosphere because it is very stable. And the ozone layer absorbs harmful rays from the Sun here.
3) Meteors burn up in the mesosphere .
4) The thermosphere is a layer with auroras. It is also where the space shuttle orbits.
5) The atmosphere merges into space in the extremely thin exosphere. This is the upper limit of our atmosphere.
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If you're talking about the planet itself,
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The Earth is composed of four different layers. Many geologists believe that as the Earth cooled the heavier, denser materials sank to the center and the lighter materials rose to the top. Because of this, the crust is made of the lightest materials (rock- basalts and granites) and the core consists of heavy metals (nickel and iron).

The crust is the layer that you live on, and it is the most widely studied and understood. The mantle is much hotter and has the ability to flow. The Outer and Inner Cores are hotter still with pressures so great that you would be squeezed into a ball smaller than a marble if you were able to go to the center of the Earth!!!!!!

Answer 3

well like others said it depends on what your talking about the air or the earth itself. the five layers of the earth itself are...
1) The Crust - thats the first 2-5 kilometers into the earth.
2) The Mantle - this is the layer after the crust where things start to heat up a little bit
3) The Outer Core - this is were all metals within this area are melted and for rivers of EXTREMLY hot burning liqud.
4) The Core itself - all metals, rocks and other small bodies are melted down, much of earths iron deposits are in the center of the earth, the iron there is what creats the magnetic north and south poles.

Hope that this anwers some of your questions ;-)

Answer 4

1) The troposphere is the first layer above the surface and contains half of the Earth's atmosphere. Weather occurs in this layer.
2) Many jet aircrafts fly in the stratosphere because it is very stable. Also, the ozone layer absorbs harmful rays from the Sun.
3) Meteors or rock fragments burn up in the mesosphere.
4) The thermosphere is a layer with auroras. It is also where the space shuttle orbits.
5) The atmosphere merges into space in the extremely thin exosphere. This is the upper limit of our atmosphere.