Tag Archives: inner Earth

Paying for Physics

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Over 300 years ago, the world worked a lot like it does today. A man writes a brilliant book, but he’s a recluse and lacks charm. He wants to get his science club to print his book, but the  members … Continue reading →

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Solid to the Core

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Ron Miksha

The Earth is like a chocolate-covered cherry. A bit bigger and harder to eat in one bite, but there are similarities. Like a cherry, the core is solid, but floats in a liquid. Next comes a thick layer of creamy … Continue reading →

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Riding the Moho

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Ron Miksha

  Today is the anniversary of the birth (January 23, 1857) of a brilliant geophysicist with an unpronounceable name (unless you are Croatian) – Andrija Mohorovičić. (You may say On-Dree-Ya Mow-Hoe-Row-Vitch-Itch. Or, like many a grad student, you could simply … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Geology, History, How Geophysics Works, Plate Tectonics, The Book | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How the Earth’s Mystery Mineral Got Its Name

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Ron Miksha

We seldom get to see a sample of the Earth’s most common mineral. It resides within the mantle at extreme heat and pressure not found on the surface. We think that the mineral resides within the mantle – we are … Continue reading →

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A Fast Trip through the Center of the Earth

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Ron Miksha

When I was a child growing up in North American, I was told that if I dug a hole through the center of the Earth, I would emerge in downtown Beijing. (Or Peking, as it was known in English in … Continue reading →

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When Tectonics Started

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Ron Miksha

The Earth is the only planet known to have continents adrift. Scientists are rather certain that the drifting began about a billion years into Earth’s history. This means that for a thousand million years, the continents just sat there. Idle. … Continue reading →

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The Old Bird Sits Up

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Ron Miksha

Readers of this blog know that I have sometimes pointed at Emperor Lord Kelvin’s fragile suit of clothing. Although his early life was crammed with brilliant science, he was a fumbling troglodyte by age 50.  He became resistant to scientific … Continue reading →

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Who’s Got Mantle?

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Ron Miksha

NASA has reprocessed the Apollo missions’ old lunar seismic data. The data is from 1969 through 1977, the latter being recorded by equipment still active long after the last astronaut went home. This is old seismic data. Reprocessed, it tells … Continue reading →

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Zero Degrees of Kelvin

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Ron Miksha

My book, The Mountain Mystery, is not kind to the great physicist Lord Kelvin. I feel a bit uneasy admitting that in my research on the brilliant fellow, I just could not get comfortable. I wouldn’t have been his friend. … Continue reading →

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Earth’s Mid-life Crisis

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Ron Miksha

Some researchers think the Earth went through a mid-age doldrum, a sleepy period of listless ennui. Its plates slowed down, they claim. Or maybe stopped churning completely. For about a billion years, (1.7-.75 bya) the planet was boring. No serious … Continue reading →

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