Unit 4 - Restless Planet - Plate Tectonics

Question 1

What the layers of the earth?

Answer 1

Crust
Mantle
Outer Core
Inner Core

Question 2

What is the Crust?

Answer 2

This is the thinnest layer of the Earth.
It is between 8 and 40 km thick.
It’s thinner under the oceans than it is on land.
It contains rocks and minerals.

Question 3

What is the Mantle?

Answer 3

This is the thickest layer of the Earth.
This is made of solid rock that can flow - Molten Rock.
It moves in big currents called conventional currents.
This is where the hot rock rises and the cold rock sinks.

Question 4

What is the Inner and Outer Core?

Answer 4

Made of mainly iron and nickel.
The outer core is liquid.
The inner core is hotter but the metals are solid.
The outer core is where the magnetic field comes from - this makes compasses work.

Question 5

What are convection currents?

Answer 5

Convection currents move heat in the mantle. Heat form the interior of the earth rises to the surface. This causes the plates on the surface, to move. As they cool they sink back down.

Question 6

What is the Lithosphere?

Answer 6

Is the crust and the upper mantle together that make up the lithosphere.