{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"f260057e748840800399b6a7c7d2be8309ddcb8495a4a944c6f19435295a8c8e","created":"2026-10-15T23:43:22Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["1fc9f206aed3d35a921169e38cb284d232b5b0356f375c9a4e47fe835aef0623","ce59fb6cd812fc05906d0c60a71c75ea22bc686bcf38e7c3ef7010834d98ee7b"],"salt":"cee4d797242bcf91295ceef0544406185b416b1db11e27f492c43c19e9ac3efe","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"value","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"earth.inner-core.core-conductivity","kind":"well-posed","literature_status":"contested","n":"2","parents":[],"plain":"How well molten iron conducts heat under core pressures controls how much heat is left to stir the core. Calculations and lab experiments disagree by a large factor.","posed_since":"","precise":"Determine the thermal conductivity $k$ of the outer-core Fe-Ni-light-element liquid at $P \\sim 1.36 \\times 10^{12}\\,\\mathrm{dyn}/\\mathrm{cm}^2$ and $T \\sim 4000\\,\\mathrm{K}$. Ab initio calculations give $k$ of order $10^{7}\\ \\text{to}\\ 2.5 \\times 10^{7}\\,\\mathrm{erg}/(\\mathrm{s}\\,\\mathrm{cm}\\,\\mathrm{K})$ while some laser-heated diamond-anvil measurements give values near $3 \\times 10^{6}\\,\\mathrm{erg}/(\\mathrm{s}\\,\\mathrm{cm}\\,\\mathrm{K})$. An answer is $k$ with about 20 percent uncertainty including light-element and electron-electron scattering contributions.","problem_ref":"1fc9f206aed3d35a921169e38cb284d232b5b0356f375c9a4e47fe835aef0623","references":"","settled_by":"Concordant dynamic or static high-pressure transport measurements at core conditions and ab initio calculations including electron-electron scattering.","status_note":"Experiment-theory disagreement persists as of 2024 to 2025, with new calculations for Fe-H and Fe-Si alloys (e.g. arXiv:2408.04521).","title":"Thermal conductivity of liquid iron alloy at core-mantle boundary conditions","topic_ref":null},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"c0cb199ed856bde66acb3489a1feec8aaaa8bd0dc4788bb4ed36465b1fef75de","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"f4e2bad4ce1b258489a98c267dd9498419608ad3ee239a891ca84e6f96fbaf6b","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"iBD8CFW8Kno_O97vu3Ve0jsJQNCDJDBpRwn29E7lfeaW4o4waZu8LxJ16ssotWThrHpSWyVj6042ladA89WLBw"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"c0cb199ed856bde66acb3489a1feec8aaaa8bd0dc4788bb4ed36465b1fef75de","leaf_index":3212}