Earth's Interior

Lesson Plan

Grade: 5

Standard: b. Earth is composed of several layers; a cold, brittle lithosphere; a hot A2 convecting mantle; and a dense metallic core

Objective: Students will identify the layers of the earth by labeling the different layers and understanding the functions.

Terms

We will go over the terms as a class while filling out our activity and writing down the functions.

Crust: is the outer layer of the earth, it's the layer that we live on! Is the thin and rocky layer of the earth. The thickness changes from about 80 kilometers to 5 kilometers

Upper Mantle: the second layer of the earth and the largest layer. The mantle is very hot ranging from 1832° Fahrenheit to 6692° Fahrenheit.

Lower Mantle: is in between the upper mantle and the core. It is the liquid portion of the mantel.

Outer Core: the third layer of the earth. The outer core is also very hot and the metals in the outer core are in a liquid state. The outer core is made of melted nickel and iron

Inner Core: is the last layer of the earth. The inner core of the earth has very high pressures and temperatures. Due to high pressures and temperatures the metals are in a liquid state but are so compressed that they can't move as a liquid!

Lithosphere: is made up of the crust and upper mantle. The lithosphere is solid and made of rigid rocks.

Atmosphere: underneath the lithosphere where rocks are in a liquid state. Rocks have the same constancy as silly putty!!