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Why is the earth's inner core solid?

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We also can speculate that the inner core began to freeze (solidify) about 1 or two billion years ago. the inner core makes up only 1% of the mass of the Earth; the outer core makes up about 32% of the mass of the Earth. Answer 2: The inner core is solid because it is made of very dense, or heavy, materials - like iron and nickel. read more

The layer outside the inner core is the outer core, with a thickness of approximately 1,430 miles. The outer core consists primarily of iron and nickel, two valuable metals found in abundant amounts on the planet. While these metals exist in solid form on the Earth’s surface, they create a molten alloy in the outer core. read more

Earth's inner core is solid even though the temperature is so high because the pressure is also very high. According to the Wikipedia article on the Earth's inner core, the temperature at the center is $5,700\ \text{K}$ and the pressure is estimated to be $330$ to $360\ \text{GPa}$ ($\sim3\cdot10^{6}\ \text{atm}$). read more

Question Date: 2001-10-15: Answer 1: The inner core is indeed hotter than the outer core. However, the PRESSURE on the inner core is greater than the pressure on the outer core and the melting point of iron, the main constituent of the core, INCREASES as the pressure goes up. read more

I have never understood why earth's inner core is solid. Considering that the inner core is made of an iron-nickel alloy (melting point around 1350 C to 1600 C) and the temperature of the inner core is approximately 5430 C (about the temperature of the surface of the sun). read more

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