Marine current power the rotation of the earth. The sun acts as the primary driving force, causing winds and temperature differences. Because there are only small fluctuations in current speed and stream location with minimal changes in direction, ocean currents may be suitable locations for deploying energy extraction devices such as turbines. Other effects such as regional differences in temperature and salinity and the Coriolis effect due to the rotation of the earth are also major influences. The kinetic energy of marine currents can be converted in much the same way that a wind turbine extracts energy from the wind, using various types
Structure of the Earth conclude that denser materials exist within Earth's core. This result has been known since the Schiehallion experiment, performed in the 1770s. Charles Hutton in his 1778 report concluded that the mean density of the Earth must be about formula_1 that of surface rock, concluding that the interior of the Earth must be metallic. Hutton estimated this metallic portion to occupy some 65% of the diameter of the Earth. Hutton's estimate on the mean density of the Earth was still about 20% too low, at Henry Cavendish in his torsion balance experiment of 1798 found a value of , within 1%