How much mass does the earth gain in 24 hours through sunlight.?

Question

Even that sunlight contains enegry that can be convert into mass
(E = mc^2)

For example planets convert use from sunlight for enegry and growth. If the plant captures an electron from the sunlight then over time it will gain in mass.

Answer 1

the 1LOT (1st law of thermodynamics) says that neither matter nor energy are being created (new) or destroyed...that they can only change forms (ie, matter can be converted to energy and visa versa)

ie, there is no "overall" gain or loss of matter and energy combined

while that law has yet to be falsified, it is far easier to convert matter to energy than it is to convert energy to matter

Answer 2

Good question!

My guess is zero. Imagine a control volume that is centered at the earth and extends to some distance, say 100K miles (or kilometers). I would say on average, just as much enters as leaves. The net result is zero energy is cumulated, and consequently zero mass is accumulated.

The energy that impinges on the control volume will be frequency shifted, generally to lower frequencies. So some higher energy photons are received, and some (more) lower frequency photons are radiated. But no net energy is stored.

However, when the earth's climate significantly changes, a temporary imbalance might occur, which could result in a relatively small gain or loss in energy, thus mass.

Answer 3

That is hard to say since we really don't know how much other matter in the form of stardust and such the Earth gravitational field collects. Also small meteorites and comets make the mass and gravitation effect change constantly. It would be an impossible job for a supercomputer to analyze that data then factor in the constant amount of solar matter created by vegetation through photosynthesis. Not to mention defoliation, weather changes and predation effects on vegetation and dinoflagellants or even phytoplankton.

A better question is: How much detritus does the Earth's seas absorb via crab digestion? Now just factoring this using solar sources through a complex food web from orca to crab would be hard as your question. But you have to factor in sulpher-based underwater vent life that gets all its energy from Geo-thermal chemical reactions and none from the sun. If you can figure this out then NASA might want you to join their Mission to Titan ice-cutting team.

Answer 4

Well. the sunlight hitting the Earth is about 1 kilowatt per square metre. Multiplied by the cross-sectional area of the Earth's disc that it intercepts, that's about 4 x 10^16 watts. Multiplied by the number of seconds in a day that's 3.5 x 10^21 joules a day. Divided by the square of the speed of light that's 38 tonnes mass per day. But most of this is radiated back into space again.

Answer 5

The earth is actually growing all the time. Cells of plants divide and grow as a direct result of sunlight. Plants return the resources used to grow back into the ecosystem as they grow and counter act the use of those resources By adding mass to the earth. The only way to truly measure this would require a complete inventory of all plants on the earth.

Answer 6

The suns evergy which are photons travelling at the speed of light do not turn into mass, and therefore the Earth does not gain any mass whatsoever from the photons striking this planet. The photons are shortwave radiation and when they strike the Earth's surface the energy is converted into long wave (Infra red) radiation and reradiated back into the atmosphere as heat. The sun's radiation is converted in heat, not into mass.

Answer 7

According to quantum mechanics and the provided equation, e=mc^2, it is true that the earth would acquire mass from sunlight. So one would need to determine the total thermal energy absorbed (not reflected) by the earth (kj/sa) and enter the data into the equation m= e/c^2. However, this would not yield accurate data, as there is not sufficient information or sufficient trials on an individual basis.

Answer 8

This one is difficult to answer as not only does the earth absorb sunlight, it radiates light as well, usually in infrared bands. If this didn't happen, the planet's temperature would continuously increase, more relevant than any mass increase or decrease. Different periods of geological time show variations in the difference between the two, accounting for global increases and decreases in temperature (global warming and ice ages). Given this, the original question would need to indicate which 24-hour period as it is variable.

Answer 9

Well, most of that energy is converted to chemical energy and not mass. Plants use the light energy to convert carbon dioxide into glucose. So teh mass gained by plants comes from teh carbon dioxide that is removed from teh atmosphere. Some ligth just gets absorbed by everything on earth and gets reemitted. this is how we get colors. Eventually photon energy gets turned into heat through molecular vibvration, which keeps us warm during the day,and gets reradiated into space at night. So the earth radiates nearly as much infrared photons at night as visible and IR photons it received during daytime

Answer 10

The earth does not gain mass,instead it is striped of mass due to the constant bonbardment of protons streaming from the sun.These high energy particles collied with earths mass speeding up the natural process of entropy,turning mass into energy,therefore making the earth itself way less every time the suns rays come in contact with both mediums...tom science

Answer 11

Well a good question but mostly it doesn't and it wont make sense to answere it. Lets put it dis way do you feel ur self bigger in morning and kind of smaller in night exactly. U can't gain any mass what you gain through Light and its energy is weight. U gain weight and i don't think that light's energy has any affect on our weight i mean us living on earth it wouldn't and even if it did. It will be really i mean really hard for us to notice it.