STEM Project: Journey to the Center of the Earth—Level K-8

Get ready forNational Geothermal Day(Oct. 20) and learn where geothermal energy comes from! The Geothermal Technologies Office encourages you to celebratebyfollowingan easy step-by-step tutorial on how you canmake a model of the Earth's layerswith household materials.

Have you ever wondered where the word "geothermal" comes from? Break down the word: "geo" means Earth and "thermal" means heat. The inside of the Earth is very hot, and as we go deeper into the earth, the hotter itgets-and that is where geothermal energy comes from!Geothermal is quite literally the heat beneath our feet!

The Earth's surface-or "crust"-is the thinnest layer, and is where we live, breathe, and utilize geothermal power. The next layer, the mantle,isthe largest layer of the Earth and isseparated into two sections:the lower mantle and the upper mantle. The lower mantle is made up of hot liquid,and the upper mantle is solid. It is the heat from the upper mantle that warms the thinner parts of the Earth's crust. We can access the warmed crust by drilling deep wellsand circulating water. Don't worry;we are never accessing the upper mantle in geothermal; that would be wayyyyyytoo deep!

Below the two layers of the mantle is the Earth's core, which is also made up of two layers, the inner and outer core.The outer core is made up of iron and nickel and is mostly liquid. The inner core is the hottest layer and is a solid sphere mostly made up of iron.

Createlayers of the earth in your own home byfollowingthese easy steps.

Materials

• 1 pieceeachofblue, brown, red, orange, and white constructionpaper
• Scissors
• Pen/marker
• Glue

Ready to Build?

Step 1: Gatherall of your materials.

Step 2: Fold each sheet ofpaper in half

Step 3: Once paper is folded in half, draw half a circle on each sheet using the following dimensions.

• Crust(bluepaper): 6inches
• Upper mantle(brownpaper): 5.5inches
• Lower mantle(redpaper): 4.5 inches
• Outer core(orangepaper): 2 inches
• Inner core(white paper): 1 inch

Step 4:Cut out each layer and stack them in the following order:

• The crust(blue)is first and will go on the bottom, followed by the brown, red, orange, and white.

Step 5: Glue all of the circles on top of each other in the following order: glue the white circle to the middle of the orangecircle, glue the orangecircle to the middle of the redcircle, glue the redcircle to the middle of the browncircle, and glue the browncircle to the middle of the bluecircle.

Step 6: Label all of the layers:

• Blue: Crust
• Brown: Upper mantle
• Red: Lower mantle
• Orange: Outer core
• White: Inner core

Let us know how your earthlooks on social mediaby using the hashtag #GeothermalIsSoHotRIghtNow and tag us at @EEREGovon Facebook and Twitter, @EERE on LinkedIn, and @ENERGY on Instagram!

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