Cubical model of earth's core found

NEW YORK: Rubik's Cube in the centre of our planet? Well, a team of Swedish scientists claims to have found evidence to support this new model of earth's core. According to the researchers, this new discovery will entail a revaluation of the cooling off of the earth and of the stability of its magnetic field as well as open new perspectives for understanding its past, present and future. "We found that the body centred cubic structure of iron is the only structure that could correspond to the experimental observations," according to Prof Brje Johansson of Uppsala University. It has long been known that the inner core of the earth, a sphere consisting of a solid mass with a radius of about 1,200 km, is mainly made up of iron. But, in this study, the team has found that elastic waves pass more rapidly through the earth's core in directions parallel to our planet's axis of rotation than in directions parallel to Equator, a phenomenon not previously explained. In fact, the researchers have shown simulations of how seismic waves are reproduced in iron under the conditions that prevail in earth's core, revealing a difference of 12 per cent depending on their direction which suffices as an explanation for the puzzling observation. First the trajectories of movement were calculated for several million atoms in strong interaction with each other. On this basis, the scientists were then able to determine that the progress of the sound waves was actually accurately described in the computer-generated model for iron under the conditions prevailing in the core of the earth.

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