TheInfoList

The internal structure of Earth, structure of the solid Earth, or simply structure of Earth refers to concentric spherical layers subdividing the
Solid earthSolid earth refers to "the earth beneath our feet" or '' terra firma'', the planet's solid surface and its interior. It contrasts with the Earth's fluid envelopes, the atmosphere and hydrosphere (but includes the ocean basin), as well as the bio ...
, i.e., excluding
Earth's atmosphere File:Atmosphere gas proportions.svg, Composition of Earth's atmosphere by volume, excluding water vapor. Lower pie represents trace gases that together compose about 0.043391% of the atmosphere (0.04402961% at April 2019 concentration ). Number ...

and
hydrosphere The hydrosphere (from Greek#REDIRECT Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece Greece ( el, Ελλάδα, , ), officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country located in Southeast Europe. Its population is appr ...
. It consists of an outer
silicate In chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds composed of atoms, ...
solid crust, a highly
viscous The viscosity of a fluid In physics, a fluid is a substance that continually Deformation (mechanics), deforms (flows) under an applied shear stress, or external force. Fluids are a Phase (matter), phase of matter and include liquids, Gas, ...

asthenosphere The asthenosphere ( grc, ἀσθενός 'asthenos''meaning "without strength", and thus "weak", and 'sphaira''meaning "sphere") is the highly viscous The viscosity of a fluid In physics, a fluid is a substance that continually Defor ...
and solid mantle, a liquid
outer core Earth's outer core is a fluid layer about thick and composed of mostly iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transi ...
whose flow generates the
Earth's magnetic field Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field In vector calculus and physics, a vector field is an assignment of a vector to each point in a subset of space. Fo ...
, and a solid
inner core Earth's inner core is the innermost structure of Earth, geologic layer of planet Earth. It is primarily a solid ball (mathematics), ball with a radius of about , which is about 20% of Earth radius, Earth's radius or 70% of the Moon's radius. Th ...
. Scientific understanding of the internal structure of
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbour and support life. 29.2% of Earth's surface is land consisting of continents and islands. The remaining 70.8% is Water distribution on Earth, covered wi ...

is based on observations of
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surface Relief map of Sierra Nevada, Spain Terrain or relief (also topographical Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an ...
and
bathymetry Bathymetry (pronounced ) is the study of underwater depth of ocean floor The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water which covers approximately 71% of the surface of the Earth.
, observations of
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology) A rock is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition and the way in w ...
in
outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock Bedrock in geology Geology (from the Ancient Greek γῆ, ''gē'' ("earth") and -λoγία, ''-logia'', ("study of", "discourse")) is an Earth science concerned with the soli ...

, samples brought to the surface from greater depths by
volcano A volcano is a rupture in the of a , such as , that allows hot , , and to escape from a below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where are or , and most are found underwater. For example, a , such as the , has volcanoe ...

es or volcanic activity, analysis of the
seismic wave Seismic waves are waves The United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES (for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy ...
s that pass through Earth, measurements of the
gravitational Gravity (), or gravitation, is a natural phenomenon by which all things with mass Mass is both a property Property (''latin: Res Privata'') in the Abstract and concrete, abstract is what belongs to or with something, whether as an ...
and
magnetic fields A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charge Electric charge is the physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. There are two ...
of Earth, and experiments with crystalline solids at pressures and temperatures characteristic of Earth's deep interior.

# Definitions

The structure of Earth can be defined in two ways: by mechanical properties such as
rheology Rheology (; from Ancient Greek, Greek , 'flow' and , , 'study of') is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in a liquid or gas state, but also as "soft solids" or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than def ...

, or chemically. Mechanically, it can be divided into
lithosphere A lithosphere ( grc, λίθος [] for "rocky", and [] for "sphere") is the rigid, outermost shell of a terrestrial planet, terrestrial-type planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust (geology), crust and the portion o ...
,
asthenosphere The asthenosphere ( grc, ἀσθενός 'asthenos''meaning "without strength", and thus "weak", and 'sphaira''meaning "sphere") is the highly viscous The viscosity of a fluid In physics, a fluid is a substance that continually Defor ...
, mesospheric mantle,
outer core Earth's outer core is a fluid layer about thick and composed of mostly iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transi ...
, and the
inner core Earth's inner core is the innermost structure of Earth, geologic layer of planet Earth. It is primarily a solid ball (mathematics), ball with a radius of about , which is about 20% of Earth radius, Earth's radius or 70% of the Moon's radius. Th ...
. Chemically, Earth can be divided into the crust, upper mantle, lower mantle, outer core, and inner core. The geologic component layers of Earth are at the following depths below the surface: The layering of Earth has been inferred indirectly using the time of travel of refracted and reflected seismic waves created by earthquakes. The core does not allow shear waves to pass through it, while the speed of travel ( seismic velocity) is different in other layers. The changes in seismic velocity between different layers causes refraction owing to
Snell's law of light at the interface between two media of different refractive index, refractive indices, with n2 > n1. Since the velocity is lower in the second medium (v2 < v1), the angle of refraction θ2 is less than the angle of in ...

, like light bending as it passes through a prism. Likewise, reflections are caused by a large increase in seismic velocity and are similar to light reflecting from a mirror.

# Crust

The
Earth's crust 350px, Plates in the crust of Earth Earth's crust is a thin shell on the outside of Earth, accounting for less than 1% of Earth's volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a division of Earth's layers that includes the Crust (geology), ...
ranges from in depth and is the outermost layer. The thin parts are the
oceanic crust The oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates This is a list of tectonic plates on Earth's surface. Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth's crust 350px, Plates in the crust of Earth Earth's crust i ...
, which underlie the ocean basins (5–10 km) and are composed of dense (
mafic A mafic mineral or rock is a silicate mineral Silicate minerals are rock-forming mineral In geology Geology (from the Ancient Greek γῆ, ''gē'' ("earth") and -λoγία, ''-logia'', ("study of", "discourse")) is an Earth science c ...
) iron magnesium
silicate In chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds composed of atoms, ...
igneous rocks Igneous rock (derived from the Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken in the area around Rome, known as Latium. Through the p ...
, like
basalt Basalt (, ) is a fine-grained extrusive A volcanic rock from Italy with a relatively large six-sided phenocryst (diameter about 1 mm) surrounded by a fine-grained groundmass, as seen in thin section under a petrographic microscope Extrusi ...

. The thicker crust is
continental crust 350px, The thickness of Crust (geology)#Earth's crust, Earth's crust (km) Continental crust is the layer of Igneous rock, igneous, Sedimentary rock, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks that forms the geological continents and the areas of shallo ...
, which is less dense and composed of (
felsic In geology Geology (from the Ancient Greek γῆ, ''gē'' ("earth") and -λoγία, ''-logia'', ("study of", "discourse")) is an Earth science concerned with the solid Earth, the rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes ...
)
sodium Sodium is a with the  Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and  11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive . Sodium is an , being in of the periodic table. Its only stable is 23Na. The free metal does not occur in nature, and must be ...

potassium
aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in and ) is a with the  Al and  13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common , at approximately one third that of . It has a great affinity towards , and of on the surface when exposed to air ...

silicate rocks, like
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic A phanerite is an igneous rock Igneous rock (derived from the Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Lat ...

. The rocks of the crust fall into two major categories – sial and sima (Suess, 1831–1914). It is estimated that sima starts about 11 km below the
Conrad discontinuityThe Conrad discontinuity corresponds to the sub-horizontal boundary in continental crust 350px, The thickness of Crust (geology)#Earth's crust, Earth's crust (km) Continental crust is the layer of Igneous rock, igneous, Sedimentary rock, sedimen ...
(a second order discontinuity). The uppermost mantle together with the crust constitutes the
lithosphere A lithosphere ( grc, λίθος [] for "rocky", and [] for "sphere") is the rigid, outermost shell of a terrestrial planet, terrestrial-type planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust (geology), crust and the portion o ...
. The crust-mantle boundary occurs as two physically different events. First, there is a discontinuity in the
seismic Seismology (; from Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following perio ...
velocity, which is most commonly known as the
Mohorovičić discontinuity The Mohorovičić discontinuity ( , ), usually referred to as the Moho discontinuity or the Moho, is the boundary between the Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. About 29% of ...
or Moho. The cause of the Moho is thought to be a change in rock composition from rocks containing
plagioclase feldspar . (unknown scale) Plagioclase is a series of Silicate minerals#Tectosilicates, tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagiocla ...
(above) to rocks that contain no feldspars (below). Second, in oceanic crust, there is a
chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which ...

discontinuity between
ultramafic Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch o ...
cumulates and tectonized harzburgites, which has been observed from deep parts of the oceanic crust that have been obducted onto the continental crust and preserved as ophiolite sequences. Many rocks now making up Earth's crust formed less than 100 million (1) years ago; however, the oldest known mineral grains are about 4.4 billion (4.4) years old, indicating that Earth has had a solid crust for at least 4.4 billion years.

# Mantle

Earth's mantle Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate mineral, silicate rock between the Earth's crust, crust and the Earth's outer core, outer core. It has a mass of 4.01 × 1024 kg and thus makes up 67% of the mass of Earth. It has a thickness of making up a ...
extends to a depth of 2,890 km, making it the planet's thickest layer. The mantle is divided into upper and lower mantle separated by a transition zone. The lowest part of the mantle next to the core-mantle boundary is known as the D″ (D-double-prime) layer. The
pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving fr ...

at the bottom of the mantle is ≈140 G Pa (1.4 M
atm ATM or atm often refers to: * Atmosphere (unit) or atm, a unit of atmospheric pressure * Automated teller machine, a cash dispenser or cash machine ATM or atm may also refer to: Computing * ATM (computer), a ZX Spectrum clone developed in Mos ...
). The mantle is composed of
silicate In chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds composed of atoms, ...
rocks richer in iron and magnesium than the overlying crust. Although solid, the mantle's extremely hot silicate material can
flow Flow may refer to: Science and technology * Flow (fluid) or fluid dynamics, the motion of a gas or liquid * Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology * Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on ...

over very long timescales.
Convection Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs Spontaneous process, spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When t ...

of the mantle propels the motion of the tectonic plates in the crust. The source of heat that drives this motion is the primordial heat left over from the planet's formation renewed by the radioactive decay of uranium,
thorium Thorium is a weakly radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus The atomic nucleus is the sma ...

, and
potassium Potassium is a chemical element In chemistry Chemistry is the study of the properties and behavior of . It is a that covers the that make up matter to the composed of s, s and s: their composition, structure, properties, b ...

in Earth's crust and mantle. Due to increasing pressure deeper in the mantle, the lower part flows less easily, though chemical changes within the mantle may also be important. The viscosity of the mantle ranges between 1021 and 1024 Pa·s, increasing with depth. In comparison, the viscosity of water is approximately 10−3 Pa·s and that of
pitch Pitch may refer to: Acoustic frequency * Pitch (music), the perceived frequency of sound including "definite pitch" and "indefinite pitch" ** Absolute pitch or "perfect pitch" ** Pitch class, a set of all pitches that are a whole number of octaves ...
is 107 Pa·s.

# Core

Earth's outer core is a fluid layer about thick and composed of mostly
iron Iron () is a chemical element In chemistry Chemistry is the study of the properties and behavior of . It is a that covers the that make up matter to the composed of s, s and s: their composition, structure, properties, behav ...

and
nickel Nickel is a chemical element In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elem ...

that lies above Earth's solid
inner core Earth's inner core is the innermost structure of Earth, geologic layer of planet Earth. It is primarily a solid ball (mathematics), ball with a radius of about , which is about 20% of Earth radius, Earth's radius or 70% of the Moon's radius. Th ...
and below its
mantle Mantle may refer to: *Mantle (geology) A mantle is a layer inside a planetary body A planet is an astronomical body Astronomy (from el, ἀστρονομία, literally meaning the science that studies the laws of the stars) is a n ...
. Its outer boundary lies beneath Earth's surface. The transition between the inner core and outer core is located approximately beneath the Earth's surface. Earth's inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the planet
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbour and support life. 29.2% of Earth's surface is land consisting of continents and islands. The remaining 70.8% is Water distribution on Earth, covered wi ...

. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about , which is about 20% of Earth's radius or 70% of the
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. At about one-quarter the diameter of Earth (comparable to the width of Australia (continent), Australia), it is the largest natural satellite in the Solar System relative to the size of its plane ...

's radius. The average density of Earth is . Because the average density of surface material is only around , it must be concluded that denser materials exist within Earth's core. This result has been known since the
Schiehallion experiment The Schiehallion experiment was an 18th-century experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support, refute, or validate a hypothesis. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occ ...
, performed in the 1770s.
Charles Hutton Charles Hutton Royal Society of London, FRS FRSE LLD (14 August 1737 – 27 January 1823) was an English mathematician and surveyor. He was professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from 1773 to 1807. He is remembered for ...

in his 1778 report concluded that the mean density of the Earth must be about $\tfrac$ that of surface rock, concluding that the interior of the Earth must be metallic. Hutton estimated this metallic portion to occupy some 65% of the diameter of the Earth. Hutton's estimate on the mean density of the Earth was still about 20% too low, at .
Henry Cavendish Henry Cavendish FRS FRS may also refer to: Government and politics * Facility Registry System, a centrally managed Environmental Protection Agency database that identifies places of environmental interest in the United States * Family Resourc ...
in his of 1798 found a value of , within 1% of the modern value. Seismic measurements show that the core is divided into two parts, a "solid" inner core with a
radius In classical geometry Geometry (from the grc, γεωμετρία; ' "earth", ' "measurement") is, with , one of the oldest branches of . It is concerned with properties of space that are related with distance, shape, size, and relative ...

of ≈1,220 km and a liquid outer core extending beyond it to a radius of ≈3,400 km. The densities are between 9,900 and 12,200 kg/m3 in the outer core and 12,600–13,000 kg/m3 in the inner core. The inner core was discovered in 1936 by
Inge Lehmann Inge Lehmann (13 May 1888 – 21 February 1993) was a Danish seismologist and geophysicist. In 1936, she discovered that the Earth has a solid inner core inside a molten outer core. Before that, seismologists believed Earth's core to be a ...
and is generally believed to be composed primarily of
iron Iron () is a chemical element In chemistry Chemistry is the study of the properties and behavior of . It is a that covers the that make up matter to the composed of s, s and s: their composition, structure, properties, behav ...

and some
nickel Nickel is a chemical element In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elem ...

. Since this layer is able to transmit shear waves (transverse seismic waves), it must be solid. Experimental evidence has at times been inconsistent with current crystal models of the core. Other experimental studies show a discrepancy under high pressure: diamond anvil (static) studies at core pressures yield melting temperatures that are approximately 2000 K below those from shock laser (dynamic) studies. The laser studies create plasma, and the results are suggestive that constraining inner core conditions will depend on whether the inner core is a solid or is a plasma with the density of a solid. This is an area of active research. In early stages of Earth's formation about 4.6 billion years ago, melting would have caused denser substances to sink toward the center in a process called
planetary differentiation In planetary science, planetary differentiation is the process of separating out different constituents of a planetary body as a consequence of their physical or chemical behavior, where the body develops into compositionally distinct layers; the ...
(see also the iron catastrophe), while less-dense materials would have migrated to the crust. The core is thus believed to largely be composed of iron (80%), along with
nickel Nickel is a chemical element In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elem ...

and one or more light elements, whereas other dense elements, such as
lead Lead is a chemical element In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elements ...

and
uranium Uranium is a chemical element In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elem ...

, either are too rare to be significant or tend to bind to lighter elements and thus remain in the crust (see felsic materials). Some have argued that the inner core may be in the form of a single iron
crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid Solid is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid In physics, a fluid is a substance that continually Deformatio ...

. Under laboratory conditions a sample of iron–nickel alloy was subjected to the corelike pressures by gripping it in a vise between 2 diamond tips (
diamond anvil cell upright=1.2, Schematics of the core of a diamond anvil cell. The culets (tip) of the two diamond anvils are typically 100–250 microns across. A diamond anvil cell (DAC) is a high-pressure In science Science (from the Latin word ''scientia' ...

), and then heating to approximately 4000 K. The sample was observed with x-rays, and strongly supported the theory that Earth's inner core was made of giant crystals running north to south. The liquid outer core surrounds the inner core and is believed to be composed of iron mixed with nickel and trace amounts of lighter elements. Some have speculated that the innermost part of the core is enriched in
gold Gold is a chemical element In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elemen ...

,
platinum Platinum is a chemical element In chemistry, an element is a pure Chemical substance, substance consisting only of atoms that all have the same numbers of protons in their atomic nucleus, nuclei. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical el ...

and other
siderophile element The Goldschmidt classification, developed by Victor Goldschmidt (1888–1947), is a Geochemistry, geochemical classification which groups the chemical elements within the Earth according to their preferred host phases into lithophile (Rock (geolog ...
s. The composition of the Earth bears strong similarities to that of certain
chondrite A chondrite is a stony (non-Metallicity, metallic) meteorite that has not been modified, by either melting or planetary differentiation, differentiation of the parent body. They are formed when various types of dust and small grains in the ear ...
meteorites, and even to some elements in the outer portion of the Sun. Beginning as early as 1940, scientists, including Francis Birch, built geophysics upon the premise that Earth is like ordinary chondrites, the most common type of meteorite observed impacting Earth. This ignores the less abundant
enstatite Enstatite is a mineral; the magnesium endmember of the pyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated to ''Px'') are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general ...

chondrites, which formed under extremely limited available oxygen, leading to certain normally oxyphile elements existing either partially or wholly in the alloy portion that corresponds to the core of Earth. suggests that convection in the outer core, combined with the
Coriolis effect In physics Physics (from grc, φυσική (ἐπιστήμη), physikḗ (epistḗmē), knowledge of nature, from ''phýsis'' 'nature'), , is the natural science that studies matter, its Motion (physics), motion and behavior throug ...

, gives rise to
Earth's magnetic field Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field In vector calculus and physics, a vector field is an assignment of a vector to each point in a subset of space. Fo ...
. The solid inner core is too hot to hold a permanent magnetic field (see
Curie temperature In physics Physics (from grc, φυσική (ἐπιστήμη), physikḗ (epistḗmē), knowledge of nature, from ''phýsis'' 'nature'), , is the natural science that studies matter, its Motion (physics), motion and behavior throug ...
) but probably acts to stabilize the magnetic field generated by the liquid outer core. The average magnetic field in Earth's outer core is estimated to measure 25 Gauss (2.5 mT), 50 times stronger than the magnetic field at the surface. Recent evidence has suggested that the inner core of Earth may rotate slightly faster than the rest of the planet; in 2005 a team of
geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ' ...
s estimated that Earth's inner core rotates approximately 0.3 to 0.5 degrees per year faster.Chang, Kenneth (26 August 2005
"Scientists Say Earth's Center Rotates Faster Than Surface"
''The New York Times'' Sec. A, Col. 1, p. 13.
However, more recent studies in 2011 did not support this hypothesis. Other possible motions of the core be oscillatory or chaotic. The current scientific explanation for Earth's temperature gradient is a combination of heat left over from the planet's initial formation, decay of radioactive elements, and .

# Mass

The force exerted by
Earth's gravity The gravity of Earth, denoted by , is the that is imparted to objects due to the combined effect of (from within ) and the (from the ). In this acceleration is measured in (in symbols, /2 or m·s−2) or equivalently in per (N/kg or N· ...
can be used to calculate its
mass Mass is the quantity Quantity is a property that can exist as a multitude or magnitude, which illustrate discontinuity and continuity. Quantities can be compared in terms of "more", "less", or "equal", or by assigning a numerical value ...
. Astronomers can also calculate Earth's mass by observing the motion of orbiting
satellite In the context of spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either human spaceflight, with or uncrewed spaceflight, without humans on board. Most spaceflight ...

s. Earth's average
density The density (more precisely, the volumetric mass density; also known as specific mass), of a substance is its per unit . The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter ), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also ...

can be determined through gravimetric experiments, which have historically involved
pendulum A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot Pivot may refer to: *Pivot, the point of rotation in a lever A lever ( or ) is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '':wikt:fulcrum, fulcrum''. A lever ...

s. The mass of Earth is about .''M''E = 5·9722×1024 kg ± 6×1020 kg.
2016 Selected Astronomical Constants
in

*
Geological history of Earth The geological history of Earth follows the major events in Earth's past based on the geological time scale, a system of Chronological dating, chronological measurement based on the study of the planet's rock layers (stratigraphy). Earth formed Ag ...
* Lehmann discontinuity * Rain-out model * Travel to the Earth's center *
Solid earthSolid earth refers to "the earth beneath our feet" or '' terra firma'', the planet's solid surface and its interior. It contrasts with the Earth's fluid envelopes, the atmosphere and hydrosphere (but includes the ocean basin), as well as the bio ...

* * * *