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shiruken OP t1_j5m0uqb wrote

Reply to comment by justahomeboy in Earth's inner core seems to be slowing its spin according to new research published in Nature Geoscience. The study authors suggest this might be part of an approximately 70-year cycle where the core speeds up and slows down relative to the rest of the planet. by shiruken

Don't really know the specifics, but it has to do with the structure of the Earth where the outer core is liquid while the inner core is solid. Anytime you start spinning layers with liquid, things get complicated.

The New York Time's coverage of this research offers this explanation:

>What’s going on? One idea is that two titanic forces are battling for control over the world’s heart. Earth’s magnetic field, generated by swirling iron currents in the liquid outer core, is pulling at the inner core, causing it to spin. That impulse is countered by the mantle, the mucilaginous layer above the outer core and below Earth’s crust, the immense gravitational field of which grasps the inner core and slows its spin.

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