What is the world made of?

Question: What is the world made of?

Asked by khughes08 to Hermine, Katy, Laura, Nathalie, Paula on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
- Nathalie Pettorelli answered on 14 Jun 2010:
  
  Hi there,
  
  Hopefully of dreams, hope and determination, with a bit of humour and a zest of tolerance 😉
- Paula Salgado answered on 14 Jun 2010:
  
  I’m not a particle physicist so I can’t give you a fully detailed and accurate answer.
  
  As I understand it, the world (and I’m presuming you mean the universe) is mostly made up of vacuum and a small portion of matter. Then all matter is made of atoms, which are themselves made of a positively charged nucleus, surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged particles, the electrons. The nucleus is formed by neutrons and protons, which are themselves composed of smaller particles called quarks.
  There are also heavier particles named leptons – but I have to say this is where my understanding of things becomes limited.
  These particles combine in different ways to form all the more than 100 different elements we know.
  
  And there’s also anti-matter – but if you want an explanation about that, you really should try asking a particle physicist! 😉
  
  Hope that helped, even if it’s not a fully detailed answer! 😉
- Katy Mee answered on 15 Jun 2010:
  
  Cheeeeese!! Oh no, hang on a minute, that’s the moon.
  
  From a geologist’s point of view, the Earth is made up of the crust, mantle and the core. The crust makes up about 0.1% of the Earth’s volume and is between 25-90m in thickness. The crust is solid and is made up of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks which are rich in elements such as silicon and potassium. The mantle is split into the upper mantle (down to ~400km) and the lower mantle (1000-2900km), with a transition zone in between (400-1000km). Generally speaking it is made up of smei-molten rock called magma which drives volcanic activity on the surface of the earth. Finally, the centre of the Earth is made up of the inner and outer core. They are both made up of iron and nickel and are both very hot and liquid.
- Hermine Schnetler answered on 15 Jun 2010:
  
  Mainly iron. The important think to remember is that the rocky bit we stand on everday, called the crust, is only a thin part of the planet. It is like the coloured layer around a chocolate mini egg! Only a tiny shell. Underneath this layers are more layers of molten rock, and then nearer the centre lots and lots of iron.
- Laura Dixon answered on 16 Jun 2010:
  
  Very simply, the earth is made of solids, liquids and gases. These can be broken down into atoms, which have nuclei (centers), which can be broken down into protons and neutrons and are surrounded by electrons. Protons and neutrons can also be broken down into quarks, so I guess you could say the world is made of electrons and quarks!

Question: What is the world made of?

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