21 upvotes, 0 direct replies (showing 0)
View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science
The planet is essentially bubbling randomly like a pot. The flow is driven by differences in density related to temperature, so lind of like a pot. But the analogy is not very good. The Earth is not heated from the centre. The heat comes from radioactive decay all over the Earth. The effective viscosity is also much much higher so the dynamics is different. The rigid plates on the surface also influence the pattern of flow, they don't just passively ride the flowing mantle. The sinking slabs at subduction zones contribute to driving the motion.
There's nothing here!