SPARK March, 2014 | Page 6

Apps The Earth Tozzle Puzzle Lite iPad, iPhone - FREE Word Wagon iPad, iPhone - £1.49 Princess Fairytale Maker iPad, iPhone - £1.49 Math is Fun iPad, iPhone - FREE Max & Ruby Science Educational Games iPad, iPhone - FREE Peppa Pig – Happy Mrs Chicken iPad, iPhone, Android - £1.99 Monster Alphabet iPad, iPhone, Android - FREE Math Training for Kids Android - FREE As we walk around the Earth, it may seem like one big solid rock to us, however this is not the case! The Earth is made up of three layers – the crust, the mantle and the core. It is this lithosphere that breaks up into the large moving, flat pieces of rock that we call tectonic plates – but we will come back to that later! The Crust The crust is the thin, outside solid layer of the Earth. It varies in thickness, with the thinnest parts being under the ocean, and the thickest parts being mountains! The second part of the mantle, further into the centre of the earth is partially molten – as the rock heats up it becomes softer, and ‘plasticky’. This rock doesn’t fracture, as it can bend and fold. The tectonic plates actually ‘float’ on this more molten rock beneath. The Mantle The mantle is the layer below the crust, and it is more dense. The top part of the mantle is solid, and this part of the mantle and the crust together are called the ‘lithosphere’. The lithosphere can break and fracture easily – this is the zone where earthquakes occur. The Core The core is the centre of the Earth, which is made up of two layers – a liquid outer layer and a solid inner core. Crust Mantle Outer Core Inner Core Lola’s Math Ship iPad, iPhone - FREE Sophie’s Drawings Free iPad, iPhone - FREE iStoryTime iPad, iPhone - FREE Puppet Workshop - Creativity App for Kids - Lite iPad - FREE Sentence Reading Magic iPad, iPhone - FREE 6 | SPARK IdentiKat iPad - £1.99 7 | SPARK