What Is the Temperature of the Center of the Earth?
The temperature at the center of the Earth is around 12,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Both temperature and pressure gets increasingly higher as one gets closest to the center of the planet.
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Identification
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The center of the Earth is called its core. There is an inner core as well as an outer core. The inner core is 800 miles in diameter. Because of the high pressure in the inner core, it is a mass of solid iron and nickel at an astoundingly high temperature of around 12,600 degrees Fahrenheit.
Features
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The outer core is about 1,400 miles thick. This area of the Earth's center is comprised of liquid nickel, iron and other metals. The core of the earth has been studied by measuring seismic waves. The angles at which these waves are deflected tell scientists about the density of the core.
Considerations
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Above the core, a mantle extends for 1,800 miles. At its deepest, the temperature of the mantle is around 7,950 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature falls at a rate of nearly three degrees for every mile that you go away from the inner core towards the surface, called the crust. So, the mantle is coolest at at the Mohorovicic Discontinuity, the layer of matter between the Earth's mantle and its crust.
Effects
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When the tectonic plates in the Earth's crust shift, heat is released through the openings. Sometimes rocks that are rich in iron, magnesium, and silicate erupt through these openings. They solidify as they cool, adding to the oceanic or continental crust. The crust is an average of 19 miles thick. Its highest point, Mount Everest, has an average temperature at the summit of negative two degrees Fahrenheit. However, the coldest part of the Earth--Vostok, Antarctica--has an annual average temperature of negative 67.1 degrees Fahrenheit.
Expert Insight
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According to researchers, the average temperature of the water at the surface of the Earth's oceans is 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit. At the deepest part of the ocean, the temperature is likely to be between 35 to 37 degrees Fahrenheit. So, the temperature rises nearly 8,000 degrees in the 1,800 miles from the ocean floor to the deepest part of the mantle. It then rises nearly 5,000 more degrees before it reaches the hottest point at the inner core.
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