Modeling the Density of the Earth with a Density Column

Prepare a density column (see this 5 Layer Density Column Lab) to model the density sorting of the interior of the Earth. You can present this in various ways: Have students determine the scale and assemble their own columns, have students determine the scale as you build the column (use a 1000mL graduate), or prepare the column yourself, ahead of time, as a demo.

This model has its problems, of course. For one thing, density increases steadily with depth in most of the layers of the earth, while the density within each layer in the model is constant. And not all the layers of the earth are liquids. You might want to bring these points up in your discussion of the model.