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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2011 23:47:02 GMT -6
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Post by skywalker on Jun 19, 2011 7:01:31 GMT -6
Very interesting topic, Jo. It does kind of defy most of the categories doesn't it? We might possibly put it in the mysteries of science section since it is a scientific theory (although an unproven one). Here is some more info on the hollow earth theory from our good buddies at Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_EarthBasically, there are several different variations of the hollow Earth theory. Some people claim that the Earth is like an apple that has been cored so that a hollow shaft runs from one pole to the other. Another claim is that the Earth is nothing but a solid shell with nothing inside. There is, however, no scientific evidence to support either of these theories. Another theory claims that the Earth is pockmarked with hollow cavities inside, which may actually be the way that Mars' moon Phobos is. Phobos is very different from the Earth however, in size, shape and structure, and was probably formed through a different process, so comparing the earth to Phobos is like comparing an apple to an orange. It is extremely unlikely that the Earth has the same type of cavities as Phobos. There is yet another theory that the Earth is semi-hollow, although not the way the hollow Earth advocates are describing it. This is the theory that I personally accept because there is evidence to back it up. Scientific evidence has shown that there is a large hollow gap in between the outer crust and the inner mantle or core. The principles of physics, especially relating to gravity and mass, also support this idea. Basically what happened is the Earth started off as a big ball of molten lava with a very dense inner core. As the lava started to cool it formed a hard outer crust that solidified and became more or less solid (although it does have cracks in it from the breakup of the continental plates). One of the laws of physics is that matter expands as it is heated and contracts when it is cooled. After the Earth's solid crust had formed the lava (or magma) inside the Earth continued to cool and as it did so it kept shrinking in size. Since the outer crust is solid it can no longer shrink, so a gap was formed in between the crust and the inner mantle of lava. This gap is filled with gasses that are continuously being released from the molten inner core. The hollow gap may be several hundred wide but the inner core almost certainly is solid.
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