What is the Earth's interior? Many friends know that the earth is composed of the earth's crust, mantle, core, the latter two of which are hot lava, but these lavas are also different, in the core of the earth, the temperature is as high as 6000 ° C, hotter than the surface of the sun, recently scientists have also found that the material there is a superion state, and according to the material form there to unveil the mystery of the origin of the earth's magnetic field.
According to the "CCTV News" reported on February 11, Li Heping, He Yu, researchers of the Key Laboratory of High Temperature and Pressure of The Earth's Interior Materials at the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Academician Mao Heguang of the Beijing High-Pressure Science Center have obtained new research on the material form of the earth's interior, believing that the material in the core of the earth mainly shows a superionic state, and the activity of different material elements in this state is also different. The paper was published in the journal Nature on Feb. 10.
The research team calculated and simulated the properties of a variety of ferroalloys under the high temperature and high pressure conditions of the core of the earth, and found that the core material of the earth was not the solid state previously thought, but a superionic state composed of solid iron elements and flowing light elements, of which almost only iron has special characteristics, because it forms a "skeleton" of superionates, during which light elements flow.
As early as 2017, the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on the mainland and the Beijing High Pressure Science Center team cooperated to build a simulation of the earth's core, they used the most stable chemical properties of hexagonal phase (hcp) iron-hydrogen, iron-carbon and ferro-oxygen alloys as calculation models, found that under the high temperature and pressure conditions at the core of the earth, these alloys were essentially converted into superionic states, and also found that in superionic alloys, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, these relatively light element ions will form a "skeleton" of iron and other heavy elements. Rapid diffusion in the structural gap clearly shows the characteristics of the fluid.
The so-called superionic state, refers to the form of the material under certain conditions between the solid and liquid, or both solid solid solidification and liquid flow characteristics, this state of the material is like the flow of spring water in the mountain stone, or to the blood in the same flow, part of the ions as fast as the liquid, and the other part of the ions such as the "skeleton" is fixed in the material structure, which is charged and conductive, because this material form requires super high temperature and pressure, and this condition exists in the interior of the planet. Therefore, the research team believes that this material form may be widely present in the interior of planetary celestial bodies, and the interior of the Earth is of course likely to have this form of matter.
He Yu, the first author of the paper, pointed out that some scientists in previous studies believe that the density of the earth's core is lower than the density of steel, so they speculate that there should be many lighter elements in the earth's core, but it is still a mystery in what state the heavy elements and light elements coexist.
This is a new discovery in earth science research. In the simulation experiment, the research team not only found the superionic state of the earth's core material, but also found that under the pressure and temperature conditions of the earth's core, the diffusion coefficient of light element ions in the superionic ferroalloy is comparable to its situation in the "skeleton" of the iron melt, which shows that the diffusion properties of light elements have not changed significantly, and it also shows that the convection of light elements may be widely present in the earth's core.
At the same time, the experimental model also obtained a solid-superionic-liquid transition phase diagram, which proved that the superionic iron elemental material still remains solid above the melting point, and there is a phenomenon of overheating, indicating the stability of the ferroalloy under the temperature pressure of the core.
We know that the Earth has a huge magnetic field that extends from the Earth's interior to at least 70,000 kilometers beyond the surface, so how is this magnetic field formed and where does it originate? In fact, there is still no completely solved mystery, although it is generally believed that the magnetic field produces the iron-nickel core inside the earth, but the specific state and the reason for its formation are not clear, this time the continental scientists by explaining the superion state of the material at the core of the earth, but also supported the existence and formation of the earth's magnetic field, the superionic state of the iron element material composed of the core "skeleton" like a giant magnet, forming a magnetic field that protects the entire earth's atmosphere, the earth's atmosphere is the basis for the existence of earth's life, So all living species, including us humans, have to thank these superioned substances in the earth's interior!
Resources:
"Voice of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Official Account of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)" February 10 article "Progress in the Research of Superionic Substances in the Earth's Kernel"
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