Japanese scientists believe they have established the identity of a "missing element" within the Earth's core.

They have been searching for the element for decades, believing it makes up a significant proportion of our planet's centre, after iron and nickel.

Now by recreating the high temperatures and pressures found in the deep interior, experiments suggest the most likely candidate is silicon.

The discovery could help us to better understand how our world formed.

Lead researcher Eiji Ohtani from the University of Tokyo told BBC News: "We believe that silicon is a major element - about 5% [of the Earth's inner core] by weight could be silicon dissolved into the iron-nickel alloys."

Hard to reach

The innermost part of our Earth is thought to be a solid ball with a radius of about 1,200km.

It is far too deep to investigate directly, so instead scientists study how seismic waves pass through this region to tell them something of its make-up.

It is mainly composed of iron, which makes up . . .  [Continue to full article]

| A  goshe release  |  January 10, 2017  |