Scientists say it 'is cooling and becoming inactive much faster than expected.' 🧐 engineering
The scientific community has long known that the Earth will gradually cool until even the volcanic activity that makes life on our planet possible ceases to exist. Though it will take millennia for this to happen, scientists don't have any way of accurately knowing exactly when the Earth's core will completely cool down and solidify.
To gain a better understanding of our Earth's cooling process, the team of researchers from Carnegie and ETH Zurich decided to investigate bridgmanite, a magnesium silicate or calcium silicate mineral that is abundant in the boundary layer between the Earth's outer core and its lower mantle. The team placed bridgmanite samples in a diamond anvil cell that was then heated using a laser to simulate the high-pressure and high-temperature environment found underneath the Earth's crust.
"Our results could give us a new perspective on the evolution of the Earth’s dynamics," said Motohiko Murakami, a corresponding author of the study explained in ."They suggest that Earth, like the other rocky planets Mercury and Mars, is cooling and becoming inactive much faster than expected."The scientists discovered that bridgmanite was roughly 1.5 times better at conducting heat than previously estimated. This means that heat must transfer more easily from the core to the mantle than had been previously believed. This faster transfer equals a higher cooling rate, meaning the Earth's core will cool down faster than once thought.
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