"The Earth is what we all have in common!” Let's take an initiative to explain to our kids the only point of commonality that the world has: Our Mother Earth. An amusing way to learn about the layers of the Earth by making our own playdough planet and understanding a few facts about each layer that we are standing on.
Requirements:
Different Colors Playdough (You can customize colors for different layers of earth)
Steps:
Roll a small Red dough into a ball
Flatten a medium-size Orange ball dough and place it around the red ball
Flatten a large Yellow ball dough and place it around the orange ball now
Flatten a medium Brown ball dough and place it around the yellow ball
Finally, a flattened Blue ball around
Learning Opportunity:
Inner Core (Pink Dough) :-
Temperature: 5,000°C – 6,000°C and State: Solid
The Earth’s inner core is a huge metal ball which is almost as hot as the sun, 2,500km wide. The metal at the inner core stays solid because of the incredible pressure surrounding it.
2. Outer Core (Red Dough) :-
Temperature: 4,000°C – 6,000°C and State: Liquid
This liquid layer of iron and nickel is 5,150km deep. The outer core flows around the center of the Earth, and the movement of the metals creates our planet’s magnetic field.
3. Lower Mantle (Yellow Dough) :-
Temperature: 3,000°C and State: Solid
This layer is the thickest layer and made of very hot rocks. The lower mantle is found between 670km and 2,890km below the surface, and is made from solid rock. The rock is hot enough to melt but is solid because of the pressure pushing down on it.
4. Upper Mantle (Purple Dough) :-
Temperature: 1,400°C – 3,000°C and State: Liquid / Solid
It is a thin layer that is up to 670km below the Earth’s surface made up of rocks. The lower part of the upper mantle is made from both solid and melted rock (liquid), while the rock in the upper region is stiffer because it’s cooler.
5. Crust (Blue Dough) :-
Temperature: Around 22°C and State: Solid
The Earth’s surface is covered by its thinnest layer, the crust. The land is made of continental crust, which is 8km to 70km thick and made mostly from a rock called granite. The layer beneath the ocean bed is made of oceanic crust, which is about 8km thick and made mainly from a rock called basalt.