Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:18 am
by Alisoncc
Hope none of you guys are still using inertial nav systems. My knowledge of gyroscopic precession is somewhat dated. But do remember that spinning of earths core had some involvement.
The rotation of Earth’s inner core may have paused and it could even go into reverse, new research suggests.
The Earth is formed of the crust, the mantle and the inner and outer cores. The solid inner core is situated about 3,200 miles below the Earth’s crust and is separated from the semi-solid mantle by the liquid outer core, which allows the inner core to rotate at a different speed from the rotation of the Earth itself.
With a radius of almost 2,200 miles, Earth’s core is about the size of Mars. It consists mostly of iron and nickel, and contains about about one-third of Earth’s mass.
In research published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Monday, Yi Yang, associate research scientist at Peking University, and Xiaodong Song, Peking University chair professor, studied seismic waves from earthquakes that have passed through the Earth’s inner core along similar paths since the 1960s to infer how fast the inner core is spinning.
What they found was unexpected, they said. Since 2009, seismic records, which previously changed over time, showed little difference. This, they said, suggested that the inner core rotation had paused.
“We show surprising observations that indicate the inner core has nearly ceased its rotation in the recent decade and may be experiencing a turning-back,” they wrote in the study.
“When you look at the decade between 1980 and 1990 you see clear change but when you see 2010 to 2020 you don’t see much change,” added Song.
Stirring with a large wooden spoon and a heavy dose of irony!
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:06 am
by Boac
I know just the person......................
However, as far as I understand gyroscopic principles, the core has no direct effect on a space referenced system. If the earth's rotation is affected, however, there will be lots for gyro referenced system designers to do!
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:08 am
by G-CPTN
Could we engage the World's military and civilian shipping fleet to circle around the equator?
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 12:22 pm
by OFSO
If it's going into reverse, I hope there's not a lady driver at the controls.
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 4:35 pm
by unifoxos
Surely, if it has stopped the drag from it would slow down the crust and make our days longer. Then eventually we will completely be out of phase with the sun and have midnight at 1200.
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 6:41 pm
by John Hill
If it is now in sync with the outer layers there must surely be much less friction so less heat and we have global cooling!
And it is all your fault!
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 6:48 pm
by TheGreenAnger
Surely if the core stopped turning, the Earth's magnetosphere would be weakened and its polarity might be reversed in the case of core reversal?
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 7:01 pm
by John Hill
If the magnetosphere is weakened or destroyed the natural Faraday shield which surrounds the earth will be rent asunder and the aliens will learn we are here!
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
If the magnetosphere is weakened or destroyed the natural Faraday shield which surrounds the earth will be rent asunder and the aliens will learn we are here!
We'd have to stop undertaking experiments like this...
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 7:21 pm
by Boac
What bovvers me is that if the core slows down, the earth will (due to inertia) keep spinning at the same rate. This will 'wind up' the core, will it not? Imagine when the wound up elastic lets go.......................
Continents could really move about a bit.
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 7:20 am
by Pinky the pilot
Isn't there evidence that the Earth's Magnetic Poles have reversed in polarity several times in the past umpteen Million or so years, and at a more or less regular period of time?
Wonder if the phenomen mentioned in the OP has any bearing in this matter?
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Essentially what the Nature article says it that the earth's core has not stopped, and will not stop, revolving. The whole issue revolves around (ahem) the relative motion between the inner and outer cores of the earth, and to an extent between the cores and the mantle and the crust.
From Forbes:
It helps to visualize this: Earth’s inner core is a solid ball that is surrounded by a fluid outer core. This is how it can rotate at a different pace compared to the planet’s outer layers — it’s essentially spinning at its own pace in a molten ocean at the center of our world.
So there’s been all kinds of studies using seismic data to try and get a better sense of what is going on in Earth’s core, which is a notoriously difficult thing to study. To be honest, there is so much controversy and disagreement over interpretations of all this data, that we don’t have a very precise picture of how the core works, why it does what it appears to do and how all of this impacts us on the surface.
There’s actually disagreement about what the study published this week in Nature Geoscience really shows.
"This is a very careful study by excellent scientists putting in a lot of data," University of Southern California seismologist John Vidale told the AFP. "(But) none of the models explain all the data very well in my opinion.”
Multiple studies over years have shown that the inner core is speeding up, slowing down and even pausing relative to the rotation of the mantle. It’s kind of a mess.
What’s definitely NOT happening though, as far as most geoscientists can tell, is that the inner core of the earth has actually reversed and begun rotating in the opposite direction, which is still what a number of headlines this week from the biggest mainstream media outlets continue to suggest.
“Every article I've seen has this completely wrong,” astronomer Phil Plait said on Twitter.
The press misreporting, and/or giving obfuscated or completely false science reports? I am shocked I tell you, shocked! The average journalist has the intelligence of a brain damaged amoeba!
Re: Earth's inner core .....stopped turning and could go into reverse
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 7:17 am
by TheGreenAnger
The ever reliable Phil Plait gives a good synopsis of the situation here:
