Lesson 1 of 7

Inside the Earth

Goal: Describe the structure of the Earth.

Puzzles for this lesson

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The Earth seen from space

The Earth is made of layers: a thin crust, a thick mantle and a core at the centre.

This is the Earth cut in half. The crust is drawn thicker than it really is, so that you can see it.

  • The deeper you go, the hotter it gets. The centre is at over 5000 °C.
  • The core has two parts. The outer core is liquid. The inner core is solid.
  • Nobody has seen the inside. The deepest hole ever drilled is about 12 km deep. It did not get through the crust.

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Key words in this lesson

Crust The thin, solid outer layer of the Earth

Mantle The thick layer of hot rock under the crust

Core The centre of the Earth, made mostly of iron and nickel

For teachers: AQA 3.7.1 · Cambridge 7ESp.01 in part