4 ms·
>Bismuth, lead, mercury It appears (I didn't previously know this) that iron, while less than 8 g/cm3 at our "normal" environment conditions, is thought to be
by vba616 3y ago
>Bismuth, lead, mercury
It appears (I didn't previously know this) that iron, while less than 8 g/cm3 at our "normal" environment conditions, is thought to be closer to 13 g/cm3 (or more) at Earth's core.
So while 9.6 g/cm3 is dense, it's probably not dense enough that it implies a significant percentage of elements heavier than iron.
And I think that it's elements heavier than iron that would be truly shocking because I was taught that stellar fusion stops at iron, apart from supernovas.
"For iron, and for all of the heavier elements, nuclear fusion consumes energy"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_peak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_peak
- gibspaulding 3y agoThat makes sense. My napkin math says 3.2x larger radius would mean ~33x larger volume, so it's less than twice as dense as earth and pressures at the core would be much higher (57x?) so it seems feasible that it wouldn't have to be made of anything particularly unique at all.