Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Simulation of the Planetary Interior Differentiation Processes in the Laboratory
Published on: November 15, 2013
Earth's Core-Mantle Boundary: Results of Experiments at High Pressures and Temperatures
Abstract:
Laboratory experiments document that liquid iron reacts chemically with silicates at high pressures (>/=2.4 x 10(10) Pascals) and temperatures. In particular, (Mg,Fe)SiO(3) perovskite, the most abundant mineral of Earth's lower mantle, is expected to react with liquid iron to produce metallic alloys (FeO and FeSi) and nonmetallic silicates (SiO(2) stishovite and MgSiO(3) perovskite) at the pressures of the core-mantle boundary, 14 x 10(10) Pascals. The experimental observations, in conjunction with seismological data, suggest that the lowermost 200 to 300 kilometers of Earth's mantle, the D" layer, may be an extremely heterogeneous region as a result of chemical reactions between the silicate mantle and the liquid iron alloy of Earth's core. The combined thermal-chemical-electrical boundary layer resulting from such reactions offers a plausible explanation for the complex behavior of seismic waves near the core-mantle boundary and could influence Earth's magnetic field observed at the surface.
More Related Videos
11:50Metal-silicate Partitioning at High Pressure and Temperature: Experimental Methods and a Protocol to Suppress Highly Siderophile Element Inclusions
Published on: June 13, 2015
12:30High-pressure, High-temperature Deformation Experiment Using the New Generation Griggs-type Apparatus
Published on: April 3, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Constant Pressure Calorimetry
Isothermal Processes
An ideal gas can also undergo isothermal expansion or compression.
For example, consider 1 mole of an ideal gas inside an isolated cylinder at initial volume V...
Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions
States of Matter
Scientists have discovered a fourth state of matter, plasma, that occurs naturally in the interiors...
Atomic Spectroscopy: Effects of Temperature
At thermal equilibrium, the relative populations of excited and ground state atoms can be estimated using the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. For example, an increase in temperature from...
Thomson's e/m Experiment
A particle with charge q, speed v, and mass m enters an area from the top, where the magnetic and electric fields are perpendicular both to the particle's motion and to one another. The magnetic...