Solved cryptogram

The center of the Earth is hotter than the layer around it, and solid anyway, thanks to pressure.

Earth Science Facts, sourced to U.S. National Park Service.

Solve it yourself

This fact is a cryptogram here: 77 letters over 18 different ones, graded medium.

Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.

What it means

Nobody has been near it, and the evidence is seismic. Earthquake waves come in two kinds, and one of them cannot travel through a liquid. Those waves vanish on paths that would have crossed the outer core, which is how we know that layer is molten, and they behave as though passing through a solid again further in. Pressure at that depth is millions of times atmospheric, and it squeezes iron into a solid despite the heat.

The claim comes from U.S. National Park Service.

Nearby in the collection

The facts either side of this one.

About as hard as this one

Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.

Play a cryptogram

Every Earth Science Facts cryptogram · All fact collections