The Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago, starting out as an accumulation of meteorites, and has been bombarded by meteorites since. It is made up of three layers. They are:
1. Core
- The core is in the very middle of the Earth
- It is solid in the centre, and liquid on the outside
- It is very hot!
2. Mantle
- The largest part of the Earth
- Molten, this is where lava comes from
- 84% of the Earth's volume is mantle
3. Crust
- The outer-most part of the Earth
- Broken into many pieces
- The smallest section
- Where everything lives
- Where we get the rocks and minerals that we use daily
You might be surprised to learn that the Earth is not solid! This fact allows for fascinating geological processes like Plate Tectonics and events like volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and the generation of new rocks.
If you watch a pot of hot water boil you might notice that the hottest water at the bottom of the pot rises to the surface, while the surface water moves down. This same principle applies to the liquid section of our planet and is called a convection current. It is this process that moves the pieces of the crust. The incredible force built up over time as these plates move and collide can cause earthquakes and subsequently tsunamis, regions of volcanoes, and even build new land!