Earth's layers formed as result of differentiation which occurred in the early stages of the planet's formation. About 4.6 billion years ago, the Earth began as a ball of molten rock and metal. As this ball cooled, the heavier elements sank towards the center, while lighter elements rose towards the surface.We would predict that the elements forming the core, like iron and nickel, to be -

Question

Earth's layers formed as result of differentiation which occurred in the early stages of the planet's formation. About 4.6 billion years ago, the Earth began as a ball of molten rock and metal. As this ball cooled, the heavier elements sank towards the center, while lighter elements rose towards the surface.We would predict that the elements forming the core, like iron and nickel, to be -
Responses

A	more dense.more dense.

B	least dense.least dense.

C	light weight.light weight.

D	first crystallized.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The correct response is:

A more dense.

The elements forming the core, such as iron and nickel, are denser than the lighter elements that make up the Earth's crust and mantle. During the differentiation process, the heavier materials sank toward the center to form the core.