1. The Layers of the Earth –
Movie Trailer
1. List as many words
you’ve heard in
science this year as
you can.
2. Compare list with your
group members
3. Now define the words
on your list together
4. The group with the
most words defined
correctly wins their
choice of a Homework
Pass, Science Buck
or a Piece of Candy

2.  What are the big land masses that
stick out of the ocean called?
 What happens to warm air in your
house during the winter?
 Why is it warmer upstairs in a house
than downstairs?

3. The Layers of the Earth
1.
2.
3.
4.

4. Draw and Label Your Diagram

5. The Four Layers
1. Lithosphere - the crust
is the layer that you live on
2. Asthenosphere – the
mantle is much hotter
and has the ability to flow.
3. Outer core and inner
core are even hotter with
pressures so great you
would be squeezed into a
ball smaller than a marble
if you were able to go to
the center of the Earth!

6. The Crust
 The Earth's Crust is like
the peel of an orange. It is
very thin in comparison to
the other three layers.
 The crust is only about 3-
6.5 miles thick under the
oceans (oceanic crust -
basalt)
 25 miles thick under the
continents (continental
crust - granite).
 Made of granite and basalt

7. 1. The Lithospheric
Plates
The crust of the Earth is broken into many pieces
called plates. The plates "float" on the soft, semi-
rigid asthenosphere.

8. 2. The Asthenosphere
•The asthenosphere is
the semi-rigid part of the
middle mantle that flows
like hot asphalt under a
heavy weight.
•Draw this diagram

9. The Lithosphere
 The crust and the upper layer of the
mantle together make up a zone of
rigid, brittle rock called the
Lithosphere.
 Draw this diagram

10. The Crust (Lithosphere)
 The crust is composed of two rocks.
 The continental crust is mostly granite.
 The oceanic crust is basalt.
 Basalt is much denser than the granite.
 Because of this the less dense continents ride on the denser
oceanic plates.

11. The Middle Mantle
(Asthenosphere)
 The Mantle is the
largest layer.
 Made of very hot,
dense rock that flows
like asphalt
 Its movement is the
reason the crustal
plates of the Earth
move.

12. Viscosity of the Mantle
•Viscosity means
thickness.
•Mantle = thick.
•Has a high
viscosity.

13. Convection Currents
 The middle mantle
"flows" because of
convection currents.
 Convection currents -
caused by the very hot
material at the deepest
part of the mantle rising,
then cooling and sinking
again --repeating this
cycle over and over.

14. Convection Currents Video

15. Now Let’s Try It
 Convection Current Demonstration
 Room Temperature Water
 Hot Plate with Boiling Water
 Room Temperature Water with food
Coloring

16. Convection Currents
 The next time you heat anything like
soup or water in a pan you can watch
the convection currents move
in the liquid.
 When the convection currents flow in
the asthenosphere they also
move the crust.
 The crust gets a free ride with these
currents, like the cork in this
illustration.
 Let’s try it.
Safety Caution: Don’t get your face
too close to the boiling water!

17. Classwork – Layers of Earth
 Use the fact sheet to help you
complete the classwork.
 Turn in

18. Exit Ticket – Wrap Up
 Compare the lithosphere to the
asthenosphere.
◦ What is different?
◦ What is the same?
Lithosphere Asthenospher
e
Both

19. Homework
 Theory of Plate Tectonics – Preview
For Next Class Meeting
 See how many you remember from
previous years.