what does the shadow zone reveal about the state of matter in Earths interior?
462552
IT SHOWS THAT THE EARTH HAS A fLUID CORE, BECAUSE S-WAVES DISSAPTE IN FLUIDS AND DO NOT PASS THROUGH, p-WAVES (STRAIGHTER THAN S WAVES) ARE ABLE TO PASS THROUGH FLUID. tHE WAVES THAT ARE REFRACTED OR PASS THROUGH THE FLUID (p-waves) ARE SAID TO APPEAR UP IN A SHADOW ZONE. Only p-waves show up in the shadow on the oppisite side of the core
1159688
The density, the atomic structure, and the state of matter it is in.
432870
"Scientists using NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer have estimated the depth of the crust on a neutron star, the densest object known in the universe. The crust, they say, is close to a mile deep and so tightly packed that a teaspoon of this material would weigh about 10 million tons on Earth."\n\nhttp://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0604/24starquake/
938702
Below the clouds are just more gases.  At some point there is differentiation of the gases into more or less dense, but that must occur at a very deep level.\nIo has been described as looking like a sick pizza.  The white is not cheese, but sulfur dioxide snow.  The red is not tomato sauce, but sulfurous lava flows.  The dark is not mushrooms or pepperoni, but open volcanic pits filled with molten sulfur.  Not a poular tourist stop.\nEuropa is the flattest solid object in the Solar system, with no point rising to a height of more than 200 yards.  It is believed to have a liquid ocean on the inside, and the surface just can't bear the weight of anything higher.\nGanymede is the most like Earth of any object in the Solar System, if the Earth had no water, as Ganymede has tectonic plates, which, as on Earth, have produced faults, subduction zones, mountains, etc.  The surface is mottled with grays and browns of various shades and intensities, and there are white splashes across many areas, nearly all with a crater at their center.  These mark areas where meteors landed, the heat of impact melting ice, which then flies out and refreezes.\nCallisto has one of the most battered surfaces in the Solar System, totally covered with craters, far more than our Moon is.  Callisto also has one of the three largest known craters in the Solar System, Valhalla, about 1200+ miles in diameter, and filled with smaller craters.
130701
there are infinite many states of matter but scientists have discovered a few of them. . .
1034996
Matter can exist in several different phases, according to particle density and energy density or alternatively pressure and temperature. These phases include gases, plasmas, liquids, fluids, superfluids, solids, and Bose-Einstein condensates.
1124878
It is all throughout space if it exists.  You can't see it because...well...it is dark ;0)
169484
Asthenosphere. \n\nThe asthenosphere is believed to be a ductile zone, probably around 1400-1600 degrees C, that flows slowly in response to stress. It is not liquid. The applied pressures are above 100 MPa (14,500 psi). Various sources estimate its thickness at 180-200 km.\n\nI've added a link to one of my previous answers explaining plate tectonics, and a definition from Schlumberger, and another from USGS.
356328
The inner core is a solid and the outer core is liquid.  Although the inner is hotter, the pressure is much more intense.  This keeps it a solid because melting temperature goes up with pressure.  Since the outer core is under less pressure it is assumed to be in a liquid state.  This information has been attained by doing geophysical surveys.  Based on the speed at which waves pass through these substances, a density and composition can be inferred.
329266
Plasma does not cast a shadow. Plasma is the extreme for of matter. Its the core of the sun but Plasma cannot cast a shadow.
1173782
Even though I like Oz's answer, it is actually the flow of magma in the Earth's mantle on average about 30 miles below the surface, where molten rock flows from high to low, nearing the earth's outer core where the temprature reaches to near 10000 degrees F.  Another heating element (or actually energy element, that has a side effect of heating) is radioactive decay.  Though most of the Earth's heat energy is released throught the much thinner parts of the crust that makes up the ocean floors.
345218
It's C), inner, outer, mantle, crust
125436
Hey check this out, I guess there are 7 states.\n\nThese phases include gases, plasmas, liquids, fluids, superfluids, solids, and Bose-Einstein condensates.\n\nSorry about all the rephrasing.
494000
They say it is void of matter because it is virtually void of matter as compared to anything we can recreate in experimentation.  There is always some density of matter at any position in our known universe.  The statement, 'void of matter' is merely a generalization.  If it were truely void of all matter then this will constitute a phenomena known as absolute zero in thermo dynamics, which is considered an impossibility.
35315
carbonates gives a good answer - and as he says the most used tool for determining the cross-sectional structure of the Earth is seismic information recorded from earthquakes. If the earthquake is of sufficient magnitude it's energy will travel right through the Earth. Measuring arrival times at various seismographs around the world allows geologists/geophyiscists to determine major boundaries within the Earth. See: http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/research/seismology/ for some good examples,explanations and related topics. More good info on this topic at: http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ftp/pub/louie/class/100/interior.html\n\n\nAnother tool used to study the interior of the Earth is the orbit of the planet. Wobbles and variations tell us about the internal distribution of mass in the planet. See http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca/~wu/Goph681/EarthRotation.pdf for an example of the mathematics involved in dealing with Earth's orbit!
728536
If you are asking what is below the surface of the oceanic basins (lithosphere), it is the mantle (asthenosphere) consisting of a combination of magma a pliable plastic rock.  Further down is the inner core of liquid magma.  Beyond that it has been traditionally  "conjectured" by geologist to be a solid iron core.  However, recent developments from fringe science (outside the mainstream of conventional science), supported by Russian geological hypotheses, questions this, and counter-postulates a thermal nuclear core.
631866
In a way this true in part, as most of the more volatile substances such as gases, liquids, and less dense minerals have already been scorched away leaving primarily denser rock. Thus, it has essentially no atmosphere save a trace of hydrogen (possibly owing to its proximity to the sun) and is very dense with a heavy iron core reaching very close to the surface. It rotates slowly like meat roasting over a fire with a day lasting two of its 88 Earth-day revolutions around the sun. The temperatures are indeed extreme, varying from 800 degrees during the 3 month long day to -300 degrees at night. All of this means that it has managed to reach a state of relative stability over the last 4 billion years or so and will likely continue for some time to come.