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Our planet is an amazing place … but there are parts of it that no one has ever seen!
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Like where?
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Like in the middle!
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No one has ever been to the center of the Earth, not even close!
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The deepest hole that's ever been dug didn't even make it through the thinnest, outer layer
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of Earth's four amazing layers.
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But even if you could go deeper than that, you'd have a really hard time digging!
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Because those inner layers of the Earth get really hot!
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So today, we're going to get as close as we can to seeing the center of the Earth,
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by building a model of our planet!
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First, let's go through what we know about Earth's four main layers.
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The first layer is the one you're on right now!
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It's called the crust.
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The crust is the outermost layer of our planet, and it includes all of the land you can see
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… as well as the land that you can't see, like the very bottom of the ocean.
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The crust is also the thinnest of Earth's layers.
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But even so, we've never been able to dig all the way through it!
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The crust is nice and cool on the outside, but once you dig down a kilometer or so, it
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starts to get really warm really fast.
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And the deeper you go, the hotter it gets!
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By the time you reach the bottom of the crust, it's too hot for anything to live in!
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Now, after the crust comes the second layer: the mantle.
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It's the thickest of all of Earth's layers.
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This layer is so hot that the rocks that make up the mantle are actually melted!
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But we're not done yet!
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The third layer is the outer core, and beneath that, at the very center of the Earth, is
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the fourth layer, the inner core, the hottest of all the layers!
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Now that we know each of the Earth's layers, we can make a model of our planet, from the
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inside out!
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All you'll need is a bunch of different colors of art clay.
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You can use whatever colors you like.
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But I'm going to use red, orange, yellow, brown, green, and blue.
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Each layer in our model is going to have its own color, so we can tell them apart.
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Now, what kind of temperature do you think of when you think of the color red?
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I think hot!
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So let's use red for the hottest layer, the inner core.
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Orange doesn't seem as hot to me, but it does seem warmer than yellow, so we'll use
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orange for the outer core.
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Then let's use yellow for the mantle, and brown for the coolest layer, the crust.
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But what about the green and blue?
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We can use these colors to make the continents and the oceans, that is, the big masses of
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land and water, they're parts of the crust, too.
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Ok, so, let's start with our innermost layer, the inner core.
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We'll take some red clay and roll it into a ball between our hands.
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[Music Playing]
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Once we have our inner core, let's take some orange clay and wrap that around the
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red ball.
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[Music Playing]
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Our Earth is growing!
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And the outer core is... almost done.
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There!
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Next, we'll put on a layer of yellow, which will be our mantle.
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Do you remember what's special about this layer?
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The mantle is the thickest of Earth's layers!
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So let's add a little bit of extra yellow to make sure it's nice and thick.
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[Music Playing]
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This looks great!
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Now we'll cover the mantle with brown, for our crust.
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The crust is the thinnest layer, so we won't use as much clay for that.
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[Music Playing]
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There we go!
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We got the crust done!
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But we still have the blue and green left over to make continents and oceans.
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You can shape the continents to make them look like they do on your globe, or you can
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make them look however you like.
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It's your model after all!
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[Music Playing]
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This looks great!
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But now that our model of Earth is done, we can't see the layers inside.
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So let's ask a grown-up for help, because I have an idea!
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Ask them to find a butterknife and very carefully cut your globe in half.
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[Music Playing]
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Ooooo! Look at that!
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You can see all of the layers.
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On the outside is the crust, second is the big yellow mantle, next is the outer core,
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and finally the very middle is the inner core.
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[Squeaks squeaking]
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That's right Squeaks, it does look really cool!
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But there are lots of other ways you can make your own Earth!
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You can try making Earth's layers with colored construction paper.
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Or if you want to take a more delicious route, you and a grown up can make a four-layered
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cake, with each layer colored to represent a layer of the Earth!
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Get creative and have fun!
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Thank you for joining Squeaks and me to create the Earth from the inside out, and we'd
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like to give a big thank you to Google Making Science for helping us make this episode!
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Do you have a globe you want to share with us?
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Or do you have more questions about Earth?
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We'd love to hear from you!
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Just grab a grown-up and leave us a comment down below, or send us an e-mail to kids@thescishow.com.
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And we'll see you next time!
