• Question: Is it possible that the book by Jules Verne, a journey to the center of the earth, be true? That would be really cool :) How do we know what exactly is at the center of the earth?

    Asked by 09stockwelll to Alessandro, Claudia, Phil on 21 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Alessandro Guazzi

      Alessandro Guazzi answered on 21 Mar 2013:


      It would be awesome! I love that book! Unfortunately, it’s very unlikely you’ll find anything like what Verne described in the centre of the earth. In fact, don’t go there or you’ll get really burnt!!!

      As for how we know what’s inside: we make reasonable estimates based on how fast earthquake waves travel, on the composition of the magnetic field and by doing lab-experiments in which you heat up and compress stuff and see what happens! But till someone drills a hole no-one’s going to really know for sure!

      This is a really cool “telescope” they’re using to look down rather than up! http://icecube.lbl.gov/

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