EAR 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Inner Core, Asthenosphere, Egg White
24 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Our earth is much more vast and complex than the surface suggests. The earth is as smooth as a sheet of glass (if you shrink it down to a cue ball size) A probe to the earth from outside the solar system would traverse the profound vacuum of interstellar space. Populated by specks of flakes, and balls of ice. Inner edge is 3,500 au from the sun. 1 au is the distance between earth and the sun, 93 million miles. Denser than interstellar space: 5,000 to 100,000 atoms/liter. The asteroid belt lies between jupiter and mars. Only earth has a really powerful magnetic field. Earth"s magnetic field is like a giant dipole bar magnet. We would die without the magnetic field the sun"s radiation would burn us. Solar flares overwhelm the magnetic field of the earth and the magnetic grid and cause black outs! Deflects most of the solar wind, protecting earth.
