{"id":17371,"date":"2022-01-24T14:11:50","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T14:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=17371"},"modified":"2022-01-24T14:11:50","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T14:11:50","slug":"scientists-reveal-earths-mantle-impacted-sun-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/scientists-reveal-earths-mantle-impacted-sun-moon\/17371\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists reveal the Earth\u2019s mantle is impacted by the Sun and the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"
The internal workings of the Earth\u2019s mantle are traditionally modelled as dissipating heat generated by internal radioactivity from leftover energy created during collisions when our planet formed.<\/p>\n
However, even mantle convection proponents recognise that the amount of internal heat-energy is insufficient to drive large-scale tectonics. And there are other problems with using convection to explain observed plate motions.<\/p>\n
Hofmeister\u2019s research provides an alternative to the hypothesis that the movement of tectonic plates is related to convection currents in the Earth\u2019s mantle. Convection involves a buoyant rise of heated fluids, which, according to researchers, does not apply to solid rocks.<\/p>\n
They argue that force, not heat, moves large objects; Earth\u2019s plates might be shifting because the Sun exerts such a strong gravitational pull on the Moon that it has caused the Moon\u2019s orbit around Earth to become elongated.<\/p>\n
Hofmeister explained: \u201cOver time, the position of the barycentre \u2014 the centre of mass between the orbiting bodies of the Earth and the Moon \u2014 has moved closer to Earth\u2019s surface and now oscillates 600 km per month relative to the geocenter.<\/p>\n