MathematicsThe mathematics behind Inge Lehmann's discovery that the inner core of the Earth is solid is explained using data collected around the Earth on seismic waves and their travel time through the Earth.doi:10.4169/college.math.j.44.5.399...
who is Dean’s Professor of Earth Sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “It’s a part of basically understanding the evolution of the planet. What we’d also like to know in more detail is what are the forces that are moving the inner core.”...
so hot, the corona is less than a millionth as bright as the Sun. As you walk away from a bonfire, you feel less of its heat because you receive less energy due to the inverse square law. Why is the more distant corona so much hotter than parts of the Sun closer to its core?
Newton's Third Law of Motion ("for every action, there is an equal, but opposite reaction") governs the movement of a spacecraft. For a spacecraft to turn, it must fire a rocket thruster (eject mass as hot gasses) in the opposite direction from where it must go. There are three ...
The sun, a massive nuclear-powered source of energy at the center of the solar system, generates the heat and light that sustain life on Earth. But how hot is the sun? The answer is different for each part of the sun. Arranged in layers, the sun varies in temperature: It is hottest...
It is pretty amazing how much we know about the inside of the Earth, given that we can only directly observe a small part of it. When we learn about the layers of the Earth, we learn that the crust is very thin, but that is only on the scale of the rest of the Earth. Relative...
Like a diamond undergoing extreme heat and pressure to form in the deep layers of the earth,we need experiences of contraction and discomfortto grow and evolve on all levels. In the poetic words of Rumi, the wound (core wound) is the place where the Light (the presence of the Soul, Spi...
Modern hot air balloons heat the air by burning propane, the same substance commonly used in outdoor cooking grills. The propane is stored in compressed liquid form, in lightweight cylinders positioned in the balloon basket. The intake hose runs down to the bottom of the cylinder, so it can...
Heat-out pipe: Suspended toward the top of the tank's interior, the heat-out pipe allows the hot water to exit the water heater. Thermostat: This is a thermometer- and temperature-control device. Some electric water heaters have a separate thermostat for each element. You can change the wa...
A new model explains how the newly born Earth's iron core formed as dribs and drabs of iron percolated inward from the planet's lower mantle.