Weight of the World

I'm of the opinion that the weight of the earth remains more or less the same. Newton states the reason for this with his law 'Matter can neither be created or destroyed'. Be interesting to hear others' thought on this.................

Using the numbers posted previously, I'd like to try to make a point. If the earth gains 40,000 tons per year, and that amounts to 0.000003% of the earths weight, and scientists say the earth is billions of years old, why is the earth not larger? In the last 200 million years, the earth would have increased in size by 600%. Another interesting note: Scientists can measure fairly accurately how much mass the sun looses each day. If we extrapolate that data back 100 million years, the sun would have been as large as the earths orbit is around the sun at present. I love science, and I also love and trust God. Evolution is not science!!!! Sorry to get off the subject. I agree that the earth does gain weight each year. I don't know how much weight, but scientific study indicates that approximately 1" of space dust accumulates on the earths surface every 10,000 years. Another interesting note: During the Apollo missions, the moon lander had big paddle like feet because they were expecting several feet of space dust. They found that there was just over 1/2". If you're fortunate enough to find a copy of the communications between the astronauts and ground control when they first landed on the moon, you will notice that much of the conversation is about the lack of space dust. It's not something that was broadcast, because it goes against the accepted theory of the day. Kinda like when people thought the earth was flat.

I remember reading somewhere (I'm too lazy to look it up right now) that the Earth gains weight every year as it's gravity pulls in dust and debris from space.

Check the final Bullet Point:

"Is Earth gaining weight? At the present rate, Earth gains about 40,000 metric tons each year from space debris that bombard our planet. Yet it loses an amount so small (atmospheric gases, etc.) as to not really warrant any serious consideration. So, will Earth's weight gain have an impact on its orbit, relative mass (gravitational pull) or any other properties? Although 40,000 metric tons a year sounds like a huge gain, when you compare it to the immense size of Earth, it dwindles to a meager 0.000003 of one percent of the Earth's mass. The impact is insignificant."

I kinda thought that most of it would be vapourised passing into the atmosphere. Having said that..........you can't argue with 40,000 tons!!!

Even fourty tons vaporized is still fourty tons. It still remains in earths atmosphere, barring the few molecules that, through a small chain of events, gain enough velocity to escape the earth's gravitational pull (aka escape velocity).
The earth, having only one spherical surface to define as the boundary between earth and not-earth, considering what is coming and going is fairly simple and considers only these two thing. It is of course not considering matter to energy conversion and the emission of photons.
Now, if the weight/mass of the earth is considered the terrain only, then the primarily vaporized incoming ice pellets and assorted debris will eventually fall to the ground when it rains or be incorporated into the terrain by plants pulling in CO2.

Correct me if im wrong here but does not the earth weigh nothing being that its floating in space. Yes it has mass and therefore gravity but no weight. Being that there is no larger sphere of influence to give reference other than the sun or other celestial bodies within the devoid vacum of space with reference to the scope of newtons small gravitation theory, but that would be an unusual caculation, the earth relatively weighs zero units, no?

Agreed! As the earth does not have a reference weight to use as a base for comparrioson, we do however have a base reference of size. Taking in concideration of the first time the earth was actually had a base size referenced, how ever many years ago this has been and agreed upon with in the scientific rhelm of our world. I have no idea of the actual percise size of our planet, but with as many of us nerds that there is in the world, I am sure some group has already taken upon them selves to track this task. As mentioned befor, we are growing at an ~ gain of some 40,000 metric tons of debris per year. So with this in mind, which brings back the question that was proposed over the Xmas break about how much does the earth weigh? And now someone has proposed the next question of mass gain? Now lets look at a more reasonable and tangable baseline. The growth of worlds population has an exponential and tracable growth line over the past 300 years. The average weight of every man and woman at the age of 25, and 50 would be a good base to calculate from. As stated befor, the earth does not have anything for a base line. However, over the past few years the technological invention of measurement devices has been greatly increased. We could possibly map the earth as far as our MRI devices and other such measurement equipment, such as sonar, and get a relativly close approximation of the mass density part way to the core. As I stated befor in the past few weeks about the lack of knowledge afforded to us humans of the precise coomposition of the earths materials of the inner core, we cannot at any point in our lives ever know that true answer. Given to that, we can use the human growth population as one part of the equation. Then there is the factor of how much land and the tree count that is ramped around the world. With more then 2/3rds of the earths great forest removed, we have no true approximation of the total weight that has been shifted to another form, wood contains a mass combination which includes water. As water changes its form a solid to gaseous state, its weight is now expanded to cover a larger qubic area for the equivalent weight. As the wood is burned, its properties are changed as well, the carbon is burned and fluids are transfered to a gaseous state, the mass is then reduced to ash, which is only a fraction, the ash is then swept aside and eventially dispursed into the atmosphere, in turn is deposited across the earth there for now the wieght is now redeposited in another area as another form. Wow, what a bizzar question to answer. I hope the rest of you realize that this is a question that would cost too much money to actually measure and gain an ~ close answer. I would calculate at least 100 poeple one year to just scratch the surface of the basic formula. Plus there is not enough funding available to actually scan the earth with all the technology we have to even gain an ~ calculation of the earths 3/4 penetration for mass. This is due to the fact of the varience in land matter around the world. To many ore composites to actually gain the proper wieght. In a given qubic mile of earth crust, depending on your location in the world, not even any of the samples would be the same in wieght. It is just like a finger print! Ponder that for a while friends of the earth.

I beleive a more direct route can be taken in calculating the mass of the Earth, and in fact many learned men have done so in the past so much that this calculation is common place in physics. Through careful observation of interaction of the heavenly bodies, mass can be calculated quite easily and such for the earth can be done as follows,( please excuse me Henry Cavendish)1. F = GmM/r^2 = ma, where F is the gravitational force, G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the Earth, r is the radius of the Earth, and m is the mass of another object (near the surface of the Earth). 2. GM/r^2= a (The m's canceled out.) Now solve for M, the mass of the Earth. 3. M = ar^2/G, where a=9.8m/sec^2, r=6.4 x 10^ 6m, and G=6.67 x 10^-11m^3/(kg sec^2). 4. M = 9.8 x (6.7 x 10^6)^2/6.7 x 10^-11 = 6.0 x 10^24 kg. Interesting number,No? Now onto this miniscule buisness of matter absorption. I hasten to urge those who are interested to look at Dr Carezani's respose to Fenymen's "lectures on Physics" (www.autodynamics.org/gravity.html) The following is a quote from Dr Careznai- "The gravitational energy absorption and matter disintegration drove AD (Atomic Decay) to maintain the universal entropy constant because singularities of high entropy are constantly created." Indeed. Using some very nice calculus math the good Dr. has calculated mass absorbtion of the Earth. His numbers are as follows 1.94349269521443e20 (grams/cent) Mass received by Earth per century. Or about 591 kilograms per century. I dont know where the number 40,000 tons per year came to be. I beleive it came from an ecology website- as the final authority. Who ever wrote that piece I beleive was confuzing earth absorbtion with total solar output in mass per year. Back to Dr. Carezani-If you want to do the math to check his numbers please do so by all means. I think his math looks ok, but my eye is untrained. The answers are fairly straightforward- all you have to do is look into the heavens. -LL

I thought that the earth gained some weight every day due to the effect of photosynthesis or sunlight being converted into mass through plant growth.

Thanks to all those who have given me real info to impress my friends with. Cheers