Gideon. You know you thought that we would never be able to get any kind of accurate idea about the composition of the Earth's core? Well, scientists have discovered that a massive meteor or asteroid whacked into the Earth while it was still relatively hot, and the shock wave kicked up some of the core material through the soft mantle and crust. The crust was solid enough by then to hold this material in place, and they were able to recover a sample. The samples were 90% iron and 10% nickel, so the Earth's core is 90% iron and 10% nickel
Anaya. Wait a minute! That asteroid impact must have been over ten billion years ago. Ten billion years must be the oldest sample ever taken in science! We commonly discard hundred-year-old samples as too old, and we don't even look at some thousand year old samples. Your sample is ten million times as old as that, so it can't possibly be any good.
For your information, there is no substance in the world that turns into nickel-iron over time.
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