The asthenopshere makes no sense. How can the earth go from solid (inner core), to liquid (Outer Core), Then Solid (Mantle), Then Liquid (Asthenosphere), back to solid (Crust)?
How is the mantle solid and the asthenosphere liquid? How do the plates move?
I AM SO CONFUSED!
Keep the answers simple people
2007-09-16 10:35:36 · 2 answers · asked by Tim Buck 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
The old professor says: The simple answer is PRESSURE. You can take a fluffy snowball and pack it hard. It is still at the same relative temp, but its getting more solid. You could make an ice ball out of it. If you put it in a compressing machine, the great pressure produces heat. That could melt the ice. So you changed the H2O from a solid to a liquid. If you continue to pressurize the melted ice water, the molecules would get so close together the liquid would compress and become solid again. (lets not confuse the issue with the "incompressability of water")
In the earth, rock is determined to be either a solid or liquid not only by temp, but by pressure also. The outer core is liquid, but at the earth's center the pressure is enough to compact the liquid to a very dense solid. The same analogy can be made for the outer layers as well.
2007-09-16 13:47:04 · answer #1 · answered by Bruce D 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The asthenosphere is not liquid, it is a semi-rigid solid which is capable of flow. The asthenosphere is the uppermost part of the mantle and, along with the crust, forms the lithosphere. The core is essentially the same material, with a solid-liquid boundary formed due to extreme pressure forcing liquid into solid, despite higher temperatures. Lithospheric plates ride atop the asthenosphere which moves due to mantle circulation.
2007-09-16 15:00:32 · answer #2 · answered by Amphibolite 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋