In Earth’s deepest interior, chemical reactions between the mantle and the core became possible. This chemical separation by partial melting and outgassing of volatiles is termed differentiation. As the interior differentiated, less-dense liquids rose from the melt toward the surface and crystallized to form crust.

The separation of the Earth into layers while it was molten was the result of the: differing densities of the elements that make up the Earth.

In its first few million years, the Earth was a hot, semiliquid mass that separated into layers according to the density of each layer, a process similar to what happens when oil floats on water. Most, though not all, of the heavy elements sank to the center while the lighter ones rose to the top.

As the Earth grew larger, it’s gravitational field increased and it began to compact as a result of the growing mass of largely unconsolidated material. The process of compaction also produced heat, which further served to increase the temperature within the still-forming planet.

Answer 2: The major layers of the Earth, starting from its center, are the inner core, the outer core, the mantle, and the crust. These layers formed as the building blocks of Earth, known as planetesimals, collided and collapsed under their own gravity around 4.5 billion years ago.

How do you know that Earth differentiated? That Earth differentiated is supported by three observations. First, the mean density of Earth is significantly greater than the mean density of its surface. The mean surface density of Earth is about 3 g/cm3, while the mean density of Earth is 5.5 g/cm3.

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Earth’s outer surface is its crust, a cold, thin, brittle outer shell made of rock. The crust is very thin relative to the radius of the planet.