this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2024
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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago (4 children)

The surface is mostly covered in water, but compared the total volume of spherical earth, there's fuck all water.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 months ago (2 children)

There's a difference between water and liquid.

Not sure if the solid core has more mass than the mantle.
In any case, I'd say it's like a balloon with something solid floating in the middle.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I don't believe the "solid" core is solid in any sense of the word we can relate to; kinda like how Jupiters volume is mostly gas, yet 99% of that is at densities greater than the Mariana trench β€” where you would vaporize, and would feel more solid to us that anything we've experienced β€” and the "solid" core is more like a molten hydrogen liquid; hotter than the surface of the sun (but not hot enough for fusion).

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

Was referring to the stuff under the crust as the liquid not the water on top

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

But how liquid is the molten core? (I assume that's where this poster was going)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

The correct answer is we don't know. There are novel (to us, anyway) states of iron, for example, that exist at extreme temperatures and pressures that have led scientists to postulate on the possible existence of a crystalized iron core, within the already solid inner core.

[–] Reverendender -1 points 2 months ago

Metric fuck all, or is that freedom units?

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Technically speaking, no. The mantle, which is solid, comprises about 2/3 of the Earth's mass. However at a planetary scale solids are not rigid enough to maintain their shape, so the Earth is closer to a liquid held together by gravity than to a rigid solid object. See this simulation for an interesting demonstration of its properties: https://youtu.be/kRlhlCWplqk

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So it's like a water balloon full of dust/sand?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What I'm hearing is shepherds' pie, but spherical

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

I should get something to eat.

[–] mediOchre 19 points 2 months ago

The mantle is a large part of the Earth's volume and even though it flows over geologic time scales, it is still considered solid. Then there's the crust and inner core, which are also considered solid. IMO the Earth is closer to a balloon filled with flour and a small iron ball in the center.

I believe this is also related to your question (the pitch drop experiment) but im too sleepy to integrate this to my answer above lol

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Oh look! A Wikipedia article that answers that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_distribution_on_Earth?wprov=sfti1#

Of course there’s theories out there that say there’s a lot more water in the earth than we’ve been able to calculate.

Real answer is that our best educated guesses are still that.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago

Liquid doesn't mean just water. I think what op was getting at that the molten core of the earth is in liquid(-ish?) form, thus the water balloon idea.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Depends upon how you're seeing liquid. If you just mean water, definitely not. If you mean things that behave like liquids behave or are in their liquid phase (is magma liquid here?) then I'm not sure

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Nah, it’s more like a wet baseball. Only 0.02% water by mass. Source

Edit: My bad, you asked about liquid, not just water, so this is less relevant but I’ll leave it as some trivia.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I was referring to the stuff under the earths crust not the slime on top :P

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Hey watch it, I’m 70% slime!