From: James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Date: Tue Oct 28 1997 - 10:58:56 MST
At 09:25 PM 10/27/97 -0500, EvMick wrote:
>
>Howsomever and irrevocably nonetheless....now **I** gotta question....and I'm
>probably only marginally more informed than danny when it comes to plate
>techtonics, geology, thermogoddamnics and whatnot..
>
>I am , however, curious..and unfortunately...unconnected to the Net (again)
>
>And I heard (somewhere,can't remember, no references..but recently....sorry)
>that some evidence had been "unearthed" that the core of the earth was a
>single (huge) iron crystal...
>
>In accordance with principles set forth in "Demon Haunted World"....is this
>bogus? or actually possible.
>
A single iron crystal has been considered as an explanation for a few types
of anisotropy measured in the core.
While a single, huge iron crystal may sound incredible, it is actually
fairly plausible. Most substances exhibit allotropes and crystal
restructuring that only occur under extremes of heat and pressure, and most
of which are unstable under "normal" conditions (diamond is an example).
Iron at ordinary pressures changes its crystalline structure back and forth
between FCC and BCC depending on the temperature. I would imagine that
center of earth conditions could be replicated in the laboratory to verify
if iron undergoes any type of interesting organizational change under those
conditions. I might add that the high temp/pressure conditions expected in
the core are ideal for large metal crystal formation, as there is enough
energy to lubricate the reorganization of the atoms and enough pressure to
control their organization.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com
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