Earth's Inner Secrets Unit Reflection

Hey people! I’m here with you again, for the 34th time this year and I will tell you everything about what we have been studying for the past couple of months. We have been working on the Earths Inner Secrets. Plate tectonics, volcanoes, minerals and mining are all part of inner Earth. You read all of my blog posts about those things BUT this is like the big picture. The final copy, the reflection of the whole unit! Awesome huh? Now, please let me guide you into my world…

So you know how the humans discovered everything that we have right now and stuff but like have you ever thought about the other things that we STILL don’t know? We think that everything we have is totally clear to us and that there are no more secrets in what we discovered so far. But now I need to tell you something really mean. You are wrong. We might know everything about how cars affect the environment or what a human body is made up of but how about the earth? What is inside the earth? That is one big fat question that we have no answer too. We can only predict. I will bet you anything you want if you could live me a list of at least one person who knows what the earth is like inside. No one knows and no one can predict without having to stop what they are doing, focusing on the questions, and taking a few minutes to think before answering it!

We have found many things inside the earth. I mean you probably know that the earth has 5 layers. The crust (its like the ground we walk on), upper and lower mantle (hot, moving magma), and outer core (a liquid that is getting harder) and of course the inner core which is made out of solid IRON! Pretty cool huh?

Another thing that we are genies at knowing are minerals. As you were Reading my older blog posts you might have noticed that we have done lots with them. Some minerals are created deep under the earth where hot magma cools which causes minerals such as diamonds to create! Amazing! These minerals are called Igneous. (Rocks formed by the cooling of molten materials. Igneous rocks can form beneath the earth’s surface, or at its surface, as lava.) How do we get minerals such as diamonds out of our earth??? How about VOLCANOES! Some people are pretty sure that volcanoes are like a secret opening into the deep secrets of our earth, a passage that leads way down into the burning mantle! The problem is that we can’t send machines or humans down the “secret passage” because they would get burned from such a high temperature! Even though there are different types of volcanoes; Shield Volcanoes, Cinder Cone volcanoes, and Composite Volcanoes, but they are all burning hot if you enter the “secret passage”. So my advice, don’t ENTER!




While studying minerals Ms. M (our amazing science teacher) thought us a simple way of identifying a mineral. The word “SNIFC” is what you should always think about when you are about to identify a mineral. S as in Solid, N as in Naturally Occurring, I as in Inorganic, F as in Fixed Composition and S as in Crystalline structure! So lest take gold for instance to check if it’s a mineral. So is it solid? Yes. Is it naturally occurring? Yes. Is it Inorganic? Yes. Does it have a fixed composition? Yes, and does it have a crystalline structure? YES! You just figured out that gold is a mineral! Good work buddy!

Now, we covered lots of things int his blog post but there is one more thing that I want you to remember! And that is………..MINING! Mining is when like you get those really big and heavy machines and then you like dig from under the earths surface or very close to it. Ya that probably it….and I am telling you, you are correct! That is mining! Of course now you might be thinking, “Oh, I’m gonna safe some of my money get the big heavy machine and dig out some gold, or diamonds pack up and leave!” Well its not at all that easy! If people were thinking that way, then everyone would dig out what they wanted and leave a big mess behind. Well the world would be one big garbage can I tell you. So, what I am trying to get into your intelligent brain is that even such an easy sounding job like mining has RULES!


OK, before when I was talking about mining and stuff, I said it was the last thing that I was gonna talk to you about I kind of, more or less, 99% …………LIED! There is one tiny tinny thing that I want to talk to you about before I wrap up this blog post. Well rocks. While you are sitting in this beautiful world you might have noticed that we have many rocks on this planet! Rocks are very common you might be thinking right now. Well there are 3 types of rocks; Igneous rock, which is made when magma/lava cools and hardens, sedimentary (made up of sediments that joined and compressed together), and metamorphic (rocks that were once sedimentary or igneous and transformed into something else). So see! That was pretty cool huh? Now I want you to know another tiny detail! Rocks are actually made out of MINERALS! Can you see the connection? Its like a cycle! Pretty cool huh?

Thanks, for joining me in this awfully long blog post, but I hope that I have refreshed your brain and that know you know everything about out unit! Thanks again! Hope you have a good night rest cause this was pretty tiring! See ya!

The Rock cycle-

Magma-

Minerals-

Gold-