The Earth is like a giant layer cake made up of many different layers and different toppings. Except the earthy toppings aren't made of icing and good-tasting cake, but rather rocks and metal. There are four different layers of the Earth covered in this essay. These layers include the crust, mantle, inner core, and outer core. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay At the very surface of the Earth is the crust, the uppermost layer, made up mostly of solid rock. It is also composed of iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesium and aluminum. It is the thinnest layer of all layers. The crust is deepest in mountainous areas. Its thickness can reach 43 miles in these areas. The mantle is composed of rock, silicon, iron, magnesium, aluminum and oxygen. The mantle is 500 to 900 degrees. It is divided into upper mantle and lower mantle. They make up most of the layers of the Earth, like the other layers. Although made of solid rock, the mantle is not completely hard. It's extremely hot. The movement of the mantle causes volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The inner core is mainly made of nickel and iron. The temperature in the inner core is about 9,806 degrees, which is roughly the temperature of the sun. Scientists were never able to access the inner core due to the high temperature. In 1997, scientists performed experiments that showed that the inner core rotated faster than the rest of the Earth. The outer core is made of liquid and other metals. The outer core is the only liquid core. This layer is responsible for the Earth's magnetic field. The magnetic field protects the Earth from harmful elements in the sun. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay Even though we only see the Earth's crust, the thinnest layer, the Earth is not a solid rock. It is made up of different layers that each serve a different purpose. The crust is the top layer we see, the mantle causes volcanoes and earthquakes, the inner core rotates, and the outer core protects us from things that can harm us from the sun. Works Cited Aldridge, M. (2015). Inside planet Earth. National Geographic Kids. Anderson, D.L. (2015). The interior of the Earth: an interdisciplinary perspective. Cambridge University Press. Bowring, S.A., Williams, I.S., & Compston, W. (1989). Systematic 238U – 235U in terrestrial uranium minerals. Science, 246 (4934), 962-970. Christensen, UR (1996). The Earth's mantle: composition, structure and evolution. Cambridge University Press. Duffy, TS, Anderson, OL and Goncharov, AF (2001). Thermodynamics of mantle minerals—II. Phase equilibria. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, 43(1), 65-124. Foulger, GR (2010). Plates versus plumes: a geological controversy. Wiley-Blackwell. Jacobsen, S.B. and Garnero, E.J. (2010). A layered mantle transition zone in the northwest Pacific. Nature, 466 (7307), 1062-1065. Riffenburgh, B. (2013). Antarctic Encyclopedia. Routledge. Rolf, T. and Snieder, R. (2013). The Earth's mantle: from seismic tomography to mineral physics. Cambridge University Press. Tanimoto, T. and Lay, T. (2000). The earth's mantle. Nature, 405(6782), 633-634.