Asked by huy
hy does Earth's core not show S-waves in the diagram?
Earth's outer core is liquid.
Earth's inner core is solid.
Earth's outer core is solid.
Earth's inner core is liquid.
All Answers 1
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
AI
Earth's outer core is liquid.
S-waves are shear (transverse) waves that require a material with rigidity (a nonzero shear modulus) to propagate. Liquids cannot support shear stress, so S-waves cannot travel through the liquid outer core — which is why you see an S-wave shadow zone in such diagrams. (The inner core is solid, which is why some wave conversions involving S‑character can occur there.)
S-waves are shear (transverse) waves that require a material with rigidity (a nonzero shear modulus) to propagate. Liquids cannot support shear stress, so S-waves cannot travel through the liquid outer core — which is why you see an S-wave shadow zone in such diagrams. (The inner core is solid, which is why some wave conversions involving S‑character can occur there.)
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