Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Internal Pressures of Earth 
Name: Natalie
Status: Student 
Grade: 9-12
Location: N/A
Country: United States
Date: Fall 2009
Question:
What is the pressure of the earth's outer core? What is the pressure of the earth's mantle? What is the pressure of the earth's crust?


Replies:
Natalie

Pressure: Earth's outer core: I actually am not sure about this one. It ranges between 140 GPa and 330Gpa, but not exactly.

Earth's inner core is about 330 to 360 GPa.

Earth's mantle:The base of the Earth's mantle is about 140 GPa. At about 700km depth the pressure is about 25 GPa. 11GPa at 380 km depth, and about 3 GPa at 100km depth.

Earth's crust: varies with depth, P=gpz, where g is the gravitational field intensity, z is depth, and p is density. The average density of the continents is about 2.7 g/cm^3. The depth of the continents can be up to about 70km. The average density of the oceanic crust is about 3.0 g/cm^3. The depth of the oceanic crust is about 10km. So, the crust ranges from about 1 kPa to about 25 kPa at the deepest parts.

Kim Adams


Click here to return to the Environmental and Earth Science Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory