

Human: Why haven't we thoroughly explored the center of the earth? What is the limitation preventing that?

Assistant: The Earth’s center contains an exceptionally hot core of magma. The pressure at the center of the Earth is about one million times that at the surface. The temperatures at the center are also much hotter than at the surface: in the range of 4000 to 6000 °C. Many solid materials (such as metals) exist at such temperatures, but are still extremely difficult to work with, so even with the most advanced technology, it would be extremely difficult to construct a device capable of exploring the center of the Earth.


Human: Why haven't we thoroughly explored the center of the earth? What is the limitation preventing that?

Assistant: Well there are a couple of limitations, but the biggest one is the density of rock down there, at least at the depth we would have to go to get to the center.  We are talking about a core about 3000 miles in radius.  At that depth, if rock is even half as dense as it is near the surface, that means a lot of mass.  And since pressure would be increasing as we go deeper, more rock could mean even higher pressures than on the surface.  In fact, the pressure at the core might be high enough that it would be as if the entire atmosphere was squeezed into a tiny spot, like a few feet wide.  But if that’s the case, a heavy airship would also be able to descend to the core.
Why haven't we thoroughly explored the center of the earth? What is the limitation preventing that?
The Earth’s center contains an exceptionally hot core of magma. The pressure at the center of the Earth is about one million times that at the surface. The temperatures at the center are also much hotter than at the surface: in the range of 4000 to 6000 °C. Many solid materials (such as metals) exist at such temperatures, but are still extremely difficult to work with, so even with the most advanced technology, it would be extremely difficult to construct a device capable of exploring the center of the Earth.
Well there are a couple of limitations, but the biggest one is the density of rock down there, at least at the depth we would have to go to get to the center.  We are talking about a core about 3000 miles in radius.  At that depth, if rock is even half as dense as it is near the surface, that means a lot of mass.  And since pressure would be increasing as we go deeper, more rock could mean even higher pressures than on the surface.  In fact, the pressure at the core might be high enough that it would be as if the entire atmosphere was squeezed into a tiny spot, like a few feet wide.  But if that’s the case, a heavy airship would also be able to descend to the core.