Our moon being formed.

[u/howimetyourcakeshop]

[u/Qzy]

Did we eat Theia's core?

[u/Solid-Childhood-4876 → u/Qzy]

There are articles floating around that talk about evidence from seismic observations that the Earth's core layers aren't as clean as we see drawn in the science books. According to what I read, there appears to be density anomalies (the core is lumpy) that lend credence to this theory.

[u/FortressCaulfield → u/Solid-Childhood-4876]

Makes me wonder if we have theia to thank for our magnetic field being as strong as it is

[u/amitym → u/FortressCaulfield]

Probably more because the early Moon's close influence kept the Earth's interior liquid for longer, at a point where other planets' interiors were cooling off and solidifying. It's the liquid interior sloshing around that sustains our magnetic field.

But yeah, the Moon increasingly seems tied up pretty closely in what makes Earth special.

[u/elciteeve → u/amitym]

Can you elaborate? Heating ferous material removes the magnetism, so how does the core being molten or moving contribute to the magnetic field?

[u/War_Hymn → u/elciteeve]

From what I gather, the molten metals and other conductors in the mantle act like fluid wires in a electric generator (hence, a "geodynamo"). As they flow via convection through the mantle, they get electrified as they move through existing weak magnetic fields (idk from where originally). The electrified magma then generates electromagnetic fields of its own (like the primary winding in a transformer) that excite more magma to do the same, and a strong self-sustaining planetary magnetic field is generated.

But yeah, I don't think humans have figured out exactly how it works, at least not enough to create an accurate model. Just a rough theory.