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As depth increases inside the Earth, so does the pressure and heat. The experiments conducted by Carnegie researchers on magnesiowustite mimicked pressures of the lower mantle—between 500,000 and 1 million times the pressure at sea level. Under those conditions, the electrons of iron in the mineral were forced to pair-up in orbits, which changed the elasticity of the magnesiowustite. This change may be the reason why seismic waves behave so peculiarly at those depths.( Image courtesy  S. Jacobsen, M. Wysession, and G. Caras.) Home