What’s happening to Earth’s inner core?

Rumors have been circulating social media about whether the world is coming to an end following an alleged news that the Earth’s inner core changed how it spins.

A report was shared by Nature Geoscience says that the inner core of our planet saw brief but peculiar pauses.

Seismologists added that the inner core usually changes how it spins along with the motion of Earth’s surface — perhaps once every few decades. And, right now, one such reversal may be underway.

The study, by Xiaodong Song and Yi Yang of China’s Peking University, claims that the inner core’s rotation “came to near halt around 2009 and then turned in an opposite direction”.

Despite that scientists’ studies assure that this is a usual phenomenon, some people are allegedly saying that this is not a normal sign and that it can mean the end of our world. Other people mockingly related the study with “The Core” movie which focuses on a team whose mission is to drill to the center of the Earth and set off a series of nuclear explosions in order to restart the rotation of the Earth’s core.

Earth’s inner core

It is the innermost geologic layer of planet Earth. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 km. The inner core is believed to be composed of an iron–nickel alloy with some other elements.

The temperature at the inner core’s surface is estimated to be approximately 5,700 Kelvin (5,430 Celsius).