# What is the Earth made of?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earth-made-of/457155>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 20, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earth-made-of/457155 "2008-07-20T13:38:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earth-made-of/457155/21 "2014-06-14T18:14:35Z")

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If we were somehow able to drill into the mantle of the earth and found high pressure molten something or other would the weight of the material being forced up under pressure simply overcome the pressure behind it and stop being forced up long before it hit the surface?

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earth-made-of/457155/22 "2014-06-14T18:31:10Z")

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> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#):
>
> If we were somehow able to drill into the mantle of the earth and found high pressure molten something or other would the weight of the material being forced up under pressure simply overcome the pressure behind it and stop being forced up long before it hit the surface?

No. All we’d be doing would be creating artificial kimberlite pipes. They’d blow until the mantle melt ran out. The pressure would be too much.

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