big blue marble
by petro c. k.
another turn
for the steelie
It shocked people earlier this year when news circulated that scientists calculated that the earth’s inner core is reversing its rotation in relation to the earth’s rotation of the crust. Don’t worry, this is fine. The solid metal core inside the earth spins cushioned by the liquid molten magma layer, with calculations showing that the speed of its rotation is independent of the rotation of the outer core. New research suggests every 35 years or so the inner metal ball slows down, stops, then switches direction. This 70-year cycle may explain corresponding differences to the earth’s magnetic fields and the length of the days.
In the game of marbles, solid metal marbles are called “steelies” and based on the author’s childhood, larger ones are especially prized.
Further reading:
‘Earth’s inner core may be reversing its rotation’, 2023, Science News: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/earth-inner-core-reverse-rotation
‘Multidecadal variation of the Earth’s inner-core rotation’, 2023, Y. Yang & X. Song, Nature Geoscience: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01112-z
Author bio:
petro c. k. is a temporal being living on a spinning rock in a vast universe who writes tiny haiku about infinitesimally small moments of time. You can catch up with petro on Twitter here: @petro_ck
Check out other sciku by petro c. k. here: ‘Saturn’s Moons’, ‘Young Star’, and ‘Giggling’.