Layers of Earth

Question

What are the Layers of the Earth?

Answer 1

The easy answer is Crust, Mantle and Core; however if you want to go more in depth, these three can be broken down even more. As humans, we stand on the crust of the earth, underneath that is the upper mantle, then the mantle. Below these are the outer core and inner core.

For middle and high school level students: Atmosphere, Continental Crust, Oceanic Crust, Lithosphere, Asthenosphere, Upper Mantle, Mantle, Outer Core, Inner Core.

Answer 2

We are scientists so we classify everything!! There are 2 ways that we classify the layers of the Earth. We can classify them by their chemical composition or we can classify them by their physical location.  

If we are classifying Earth’s layers by their chemical composition, we use the terms “crust”, “mantle” and “core”. The crust is the outermost layer and contains the least dense (lightest) materials, such as silicon. Beneath the crust is the mantle. The mantle is more dense than the crust, and contains things like magnesium. The mantle makes up most of Earth’s mass, by the way. Beneath the mantle is the core. The core is at the very center of our planet. The core is the most dense layer, and contains primarily iron. 

If we are classifying the layers of Earth by their physical location, we use the terms “lithosphere”, “asthenosphere”, “mesosphere”, “outer core” and “inner core”. The lithosphere contains the crust (both continental and oceanic crust) and the very upper part of the mantle. This is where the tectonic plates are! The asthenosphere is below the lithosphere. It is most of the upper part of the mantle. The rock in the asthenosphere is plastic, meaning it is thick and movable like clay. Next is the mesosphere. It is the lower part of the mantle. Beneath the mesosphere is the liquid outer core. It is not really liquid, but molten rock. Finally, the solid core is at the very center of Earth.

Chemical Composition	Physical Location
Crust (least dense) (silicon)		Lithosphere (continental and oceanic crust)	(tectonic plates)
Mantle (medium density) (magnesium)		Asthenosphere (plastic = movable)
Core (most dense) (iron)		Mesosphere
	Outer Core (liquid)
	Inner Core (solid)

Answer 3

There are three layers on the inside, the inner core, outer core, and mantle. On the outside we have the upper mantle and the crust. If you want to go deeper this is also two types of crust including the oceanic crust which is in the ocean, and the continental crust which is made mostly from a type of rock called Granite. The core is the hottest part of the earth which is up to 6,000 Fahrenheit! Thats up to 6,000 times hotter than our atmosphere!

Answer 4

From outer most layer inward crust, upper mantle, lower mantle, outter core, and inner core. To help elementary students learn this concept you can create a STEAM earth model using different colored clay. The child will first form a ball to represent the inner core. Then roll out a circle of another colour and wrap around the ball and roll gently. This next layer represents the outer core. The student will repeat this process with the rest of the layers of the earth. When complete the student will cut the ball in half to expose the layers.