China's population are in billions. It is believe that if they jump together at the same time the eart moves?

Answer 1

I heard that when I was in Elementary School. If they all stood on a chair and jumped simultaneously then it would make a world felt earthquake!

Answer 2

Classically (i.e. according to Newtonian physics), the answer is "yes". One can even calculate approximately how far it would move! Note: this is a physics question. Physicists often simplify these questions by making assumptions. The major assumptions that I will make to simplify the calculation will be these:

1) The average person in China has a mass of 50 kg (110 lbs). Children will generally weigh less, adults will generally weigh more. A more accurate approximation could be obtained by looking at the population spread across ages, as well as the average weight per age in China.

2) Everyone in China is actually standing at the same point. This simplifies things because then we can neglect the curvature of the Earth, which would slightly decrease the answer.

3) The average height that a person in China can jump is 0.6 m (about 2 ft. -- perhaps a low estimation, but this could help balance out the high estimation of assumption 2).

With these three assumptions, here are the relevant facts:

1) The mass of 1,306,313,812 people (as of July 2006, estimated) would be approx. 6.532 x 10^10 kg (about 65 billion kg, or 144 billion lbs).

2) The mass of the Earth is about 5.98 x 10^24 kg (about 5.98 sextillion kg, or 13 sextillion lbs -- 1 sextillion is 1 billion billions).

Thus, the mass of 1,306,313,812 people is 1.09 x 10^(-12) % of the mass of the Earth (about 1 trillionth of 1 percent).

The distance that the Earth moves if all the people in China were to jump 0.6 m would be 1.09 x 10^(-14)*0.6 m, or 6.55 x 10^(-15) m (that's 6.55 femtometers, or about 10 trillionths the width of a human hair, smaller than the width of an atom).

Note that this is a classical "Newtonian" calculation. In actuality, such small distances are in the domain of quantum physics, which gets to be a bit more complicated.

Edit: I neglected to mention that the Earth would move right back when they landed. Everyone would be pushing against the Earth, in a sense "stretching" gravity like a rubber band. When they came back, the rubber band would pull the Earth back as well as them.

Answer 3

Not likely to move very much. The earth's weight is approximately5.978 sextillion metric tons. I believe that the current population of China is approximately 1.4 billion people. A metric ton is approximately 2200 pounds. Even if you allowed that the average person in China weighed 100 pounds (which is probably very high) the total weight of all the people would be approximately 140 billion pounds or approximately 63 million tons. (if my math is correct) a million tons is 6.3 x 10 to the 6th power. The earths weight is approximately 6.0 x 10 to the 21st power. I would have to concede that the earth would move somewhat - it's just physics - Newtonian Physics , but the amount of movement would be extremely small.

Answer 4

The answer is simple physics.

As Newton laid down into law...for every action there is an equal, or greater reaction. Based on this logic the earth would move if all one billion people jumped together. However, the movement would be so minute (given gravitational pull, mass, ect.) one could hardly measure it.

The great thing is, you don't need one billion of your fellow country-men to do the same thing! Anytime you feel insignificant, just know, based on Newton's laws, every action YOU make not only affects the earth, but the entire cosmos!

Answer 5

I think HCP got it. Now, in plain English, the answer to the question of whether or not the earth would move if the entire population in China jumps is -- "Not really", since the effect is so neglegible. I mean heck, we can even calculate how much the earth would shift due to someone taking a dump in the woods. It's just gonna be infinitesimally small.

Answer 6

i think it's the idea that if everyone on the Earth jumped in a synchoronized fashion, the Earth would tilt off it's axis. I'm not sure if that's possible, but some scientists believe it's true.

haha it would be kinda hard trying to get everyone to jump at the same time, though, so i wouldn't bank on it happening anytime soon.

Answer 7

No, because all people in china dont have enough mass to be able to move the earth. To even just make the earth move a little the mass of all the people would have to be the of the mass of earth.

Answer 8

Even a billion people do not mass enough to "move" the earth. Add to that the fact that most "ground" is plastic and absorbs the impact via compression and the answer is a resounding "no!"

Answer 9

Don't think so. If you took all 6.5 billion people on the face of the earth and gave them all a 3 by 3 foot square to sit on and had them sit side by side we would take up the space of Statin Island.

Answer 10

yes but at same times Indians jumps means what happens
un?it believe that there population is more than china [unauthorised counting is not done]