ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Solid-earth science

Solid-earth science is studying the big rock that we live on, which is called Earth. Scientists who study this stuff, they're called geologists. And they want to know all about the different layers that are inside the Earth, what kind of stuff is in each layer, and what happens deep inside. They want to know how earthquakes happen, how mountains form, and how volcanoes blow up.

Think of Earth like it's an onion. There are different layers, and each layer is a little bit different. The outer layer is called the crust, and it's the part we walk and live on. It's made of lots of different things like rocks and dirt. If you go deeper inside, you'll find the mantle. It's much hotter here - as hot as 4,000 degrees Celsius!

Below that is the core, and it's the hot and molten part of the Earth. The core is made mostly of iron and it's super hot. So when you think about it, Earth is like someone baked an onion from the outside and the inside is still really hot.

Geologists study all of these layers and what's happening inside them. They use cool tools like seismographs to measure earthquakes and look at rocks to understand how they were made. They want to know everything about our planet so that we can better understand the world we live in.