Is earth gaining or losing mass with passage of time?

Question

Please ignore mass gained from meteorites debris falling from space.

Answer 1

If you're ignoring debris falling from space, then I'd say losing, because man made objects built using the earths resources are fired into space and some don't return, also Helium gas (when released into the atmosphere from balloons etc.) is so light it escapes into space.

Answer 2

I would say it is gaining mass because of all the meteorites which occasionally hit the Earth. On the other hand we put a lot of junk into space, but that could never compensate the amount of mass which falls onto Earth.

Answer 3

Its not so much the meteorites that add mass to the Earth but all the cosmic dust we pick up every year as we go around the sun... something like 42 million metric tons per year, small compared to the overall mass of the Earth, but it makes the Earth gain mass nonetheless.

Answer 4

you can't gain or lose mass. but the earth getting hit would steal mass kinda like gaining though some of the debris would float into space

Answer 5

You answered your own question. Every planetary mass is constantly gaining material from outer space. You can't simply exclude the primary source of material. I imagine that there is a certain amount of list of material from violent volcanic eruptions, such as Mount St. Helens, which had the explosive power of 24 megatons, sending up dust that circled the planet. There is also the volcanoes that brought about the 200 year long Little Ice Age that ended in the late 1800s.

Answer 6

How could earth gain mass? Think about it. Everything that is created comes from the Earth....Lose mass, maybe. But I don't see too much leaving the Earth and how it would leave or break off from the earth.

Answer 7

" ignoring mass gained from meteorites debris falling from space."

huh?

that's a BIG part of the "mass-budget" of earth

out-gasssing into "space" means "losing mass"

HOWEVER, this is more than offset by the mass added by micro-meteors and micro-comets

Answer 8

If the mass of earth changes significantly,then the period of rotation about its axis will change.

Then the number of days in an year will change.

The acceleration due to gravity will change at all places on the earth.


Mass of earth is determined only by these effects and astronomical calculations. If these effects are changed we can conclude that mass has either decreased or increased.

So far there is no significant change in them.

Answer 9

Gaining, but not much (even ignoring meteors). The solar wind adds mass, and dissipation of the atmosphere reduces it. Neither effect is large enough to be interesting.

Answer 10

The earth is losing mass.