Convection currents drive the movement of Earth's rigid tectonic plates in the planet's fluid molten mantle. In places where convection currents rise up towards the crust's surface, tectonic plates move away from each other in a process known as seafloor spreading
They're called convection currents but they're not really currents atall. Convection can only occur in a fluid and the mantle is almost entirely solid. The best analogy would be a Slinky Spring coming down a staircase. Both the slinky and stairs are solid but ‘ flow' relative to each other. Each time one end of the slinky leaves a step it is akin to chemical bonds failing in mineral structures. When the slinky lands on the next step the chemical bonds reform. This process causes high energy regions of the mantle to push up against the crust, causing it to slide away in what is called the ridge-slide force. The plates also move from slab-pull force which is where subducting margins drag the rest of the plate along behind.
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Convection currents drive the movement of Earth's rigid tectonic plates in the planet's fluid molten mantle. In places where convection currents rise up towards the crust's surface, tectonic plates move away from each other in a process known as seafloor spreading
They're called convection currents but they're not really currents atall. Convection can only occur in a fluid and the mantle is almost entirely solid. The best analogy would be a Slinky Spring coming down a staircase. Both the slinky and stairs are solid but ‘ flow' relative to each other. Each time one end of the slinky leaves a step it is akin to chemical bonds failing in mineral structures. When the slinky lands on the next step the chemical bonds reform. This process causes high energy regions of the mantle to push up against the crust, causing it to slide away in what is called the ridge-slide force. The plates also move from slab-pull force which is where subducting margins drag the rest of the plate along behind.