Scientists who study the earth are called
geologists. Since they cannot see the inside of the earth they use
geographical clues to help them. These clues are gathered from
activities such as volcanoes and earthquakes. From these clues
geologists hypothesize (make an educated guess) what they think the earth
actually looks like.
Geologists believe the earth is neither liquid nor solid
all the way through. It is a made up of different layers. Some
of these layers are solid. Some are liquid, and some are both.
The layers of the earth have special names. They are the crust, the
mantle, and the core. These layers vary in width and
temperature. Look at the picture below.
The thin crust, or outer layer of the earth is made
mostly of rock. The thickness of this layer varies from 3 to 34
miles. Below the crust is the mantle. The mantle is about
1,800 miles thick and made mostly of solid rock. It is the thickest
layer of the Earth. The mantle is also very hot - about 5,400 degrees F
in some spots. The center of the earth
is called the core. It is about 2,200 miles thick. The core is
extremely hot - about 7,200 degrees F. The core is further divided
into an inner core and an outer core. The outer core is a liquid
layer of melted nickel and iron. The inner core is made of solid
nickel and iron.
Directions: Answer the questions about the inside
of the earth.
A scientist who studies the earth is called a
.
To hypothesize means to
read
make a guess
make an educated guess
cut apart and observe
The thin outermost layer of the earth is called the
.
The layer below the thin outermost layer is called
the
.
The center of the earth is called the
.
The layers of the earth vary in width and
.
Which layer of the earth is the hottest?
crust
mantle
core
Which of the following statements is true?
The mantle
of the earth is made of solid nickel and iron.
The crust of the earth is
made of solid nickel and iron.
The
inner core is made of solid nickel and iron.
The
is the thinnest part of the earth.
The
is the thickest part of the earth.
Elementary & Middle School Lessons & Self-Correcting Tests for Children in all Subject Areas. If you have found an error or would like to make comments on this lesson,
please email us at:
MySchoolhouse.online@gmail.com
Copyright 1999-2024 by Educational Designers, LLC. All rights reserved. Lessons & Tests in Math, Reading, Spelling, Science, Language, and Social Studies.
"This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and analyze
traffic. Your IP address and user-agent are shared with Google along with
performance and security metrics to ensure quality of service, generate
usage statistics, and to detect and address abuse."
