Welcome to EvC Bach!
A word of caution, there are many natural scientists here, and at least one library scientist. They do not casually accept false assertions.
Bach writes:
The same can be said of the scientific community’s general acceptance of the theory that the Earth contains a hot, molten core. Since the theory cannot be proved or disproved at this time, the academics have taken the position of stating the theory over and over and over again until most people accept it as fact. They have taken the same stance to prove the theory of the Big Bang, among several other virtually unsupportable theories.
Scientific theories are not proven or unproven, they either have evidence or counter-evidence. If the evidence is overwhelming, such as no counterexamples have ever been shown to exist under controlled conditions, they are often promoted to laws. Hence the Law of gravity, or of conservation of energy. Other theories have massive favorable evidence and virtually no counter-evidence, such as the theory of evolution, germ theory of disease, or even an expanding universe but do not exhibit the absolute recorded history over several hundred to thousands of years of continuous evidence so are slightly less than laws.
Now there is a subfield of geology called geophysics, and it is from the uniting of these two fields that the general deep structure of the earth is pretty much known. This is because of the behavior of sonic waves traveling through a solid, liquid or plastic, something that can be verified to anyone at any time in a physics lab.
According to the physics of waves traveling through solids and liquids, the earth consists of a solid inner core of approximately 800 miles radius, an outer liquid core of a further 1200 miles, a solid mantle of around 2000 miles, a basaltic (oceanic) crust of several miles and a further continental crust of several miles (if on dry land or continental shelf).
How is this evidenced? There are two types of waves that can penetrate the earth, pressure waves and shear waves. The reason the outer core is surmised to be liquid is because liquids can't be sheared. Everytime there is an earthquake in Japan that is strong enough to be picked up in California, there is a giant hole (representing the outer core) where there are pressure waves but no shear waves. All the data recorded throughout history is consistent - there is a liquid outer core between 800 to 2000 miles from center. Also the liquid outer core is the only explanation for the strong magnetic field of the earth.
As for the solid inner core, that is because there is a strong echo of p waves that bounce off, indicating a solid beneath the liquid. As for the mantle, the transmission of both P and S waves show it is solid. In fact there was even a drilling project called Project Moho to drill down to the mantle. However someone finally figured out that Kimberlite pipes came from the same place, so the project was discontinued around 62 or 63.
Which is probably a good thing because they would have hit the Mohorovicic discontinuity a bit before the mantle, a plastic portion of the crust that is heated to the point it is, well plastic. The evidence it is plastic comes from both the behavior of sound waves and the knowledge of the rock constituents, along with the PVT phase diagram which covers the action of molecules under specific conditions of pressure, temperature, and, if relevant, volume.
It is this plastic layer that is generally considered the cause of crustal heating that causes volcanoes, they do not come from the earth's core except through heating the outer mantle and crust.
The principle behind everything I just mentioned can be shown in a freshman physics or chemistry lab. Also you don't even have to take my word for it. See:
Internal structure of Earth - Wikipedia
A flaw in the scientific model is that it is based on five-sense perception limitations. That is, what can be seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelt is what there is. Therefore, science has little room for unseen intelligent forces at work in its model of the Earth. Genies, angels, ghosts and gods are ridiculed into non-existence under most of the currently accepted scientific models. When unseen intelligent forces are included in the models, those theories are generally lumped into the category of pseudo-science or fantasies.
The primary reason why most people prefer science to demonic forces is because science feeds the hungry, cures the sick, and makes life more comfortable. Belief in demons and boogeymen has historically been shown to do nothing to feed the poor, heal the sick, or make life more comfortable. If anything it has killed millions of innocents at holy war and at the stake.
So which belief system is more aligned to Jesus' dictum to heal the sick and feed the poor?
Which belief system is a better fit for democracy, that of unquestioned dogma from the temporal false prophet, or the ever questioning scientist trying to discern the nature of reality as is common to most people.
Which belief system has more to say about the nature of reality? Dark age clerics or enlightened freethinkers?
Don't believe in gravity? jump off a cliff. Don't believe in the germ theory of disease? lick a urinal.
Want to learn something that benefits you and us, have the guts stick around and ask questions rather than assert absolute answers born of an unexamined life.
Best of luck in your journey.
Edited by anglagard, : Add wiki URL
Edited by anglagard, : use correct terminology per radius and miles. Don't need to crater a Mars satellite mixing metric in there.
Edited by anglagard, : Precision, want all to know volcanoes do not directly come from the earth's core.
The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas - uncertainty, progress, change - into crimes.
Salman Rushdie
This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It’s us. Only us. - the character Rorschach in Watchmen
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