What're the consequences of taking minerals from the Earth as far as the Earth's gravitational pull and orbit?

Question

I think drilling for different things inside the Earth, (oil, gold, etc.) can't be good for the planet. It's like extracting spare parts in a car and then expecting that car to drive the same way.

Am I wrong? What if it takes like... oh, I don't know...2008 years before we feel the effects on a level we can comprehend? Shouldn't we so something about it now, before we are in the stage where we see it on every news channel with a doomsday headline?

Bling bling, and sliver, and metal is great, but... aren't we kind of altering or shifting the Earth's mass? I'm no scientist, but we're messing with gravitons and things we as a scientific community don't even have a handle on yet.

What if, with all our drilling and excavation, we end up doing something so drastic that we can't go back? What then?

Answer 1

Nothing is being removed from the earth. All the metals and minerals that we mine and use in everyday life, and the fossil fuels that we consume stay on the earth so there is no net change in the earth's mass from our mineral and fossil fuel extraction activities. That's the law of conservation of matter - matter can not be created or destroyed. The only exception to this is spacecraft that we are sending outside of the earth's gravitiational field (to Mars for example) but that effect is mathematically impossible to calculate. On top of that, we accumulate space dust as mentioned above.

So to put it in context with your car example, we just move the sparkplugs into the trunk - but on a much smaller scale based on the mass of the earth. There is absolutely no hazard to the earth's gravitational pull and orbit.

But now we need to look at why we are extracting minerals from the earth. Minerals occur naturally and are mined by mining companies to satisfy the demand from society to provide all the things we take for granted - cars, airplanes, computers, even so-called environmentally friendly things like solar panels and hydrogen cells. If it can't be grown, it has to be mined! And even if it is grown, there is machinery that came from mining involved in the growing process.

Answer 2

There are many laws governing nature and among these is the law that "Matter (the building blocks of everything) can neither be created nor destroyed."
When we burn fossil fuels or extract minerals from the earth they are transformed into other forms, be it 'bling' or gaseous emissions from a tail pipe. The amount of earths matter has not changed, but has been disseminated on some scale.
In the very center of the planet is a solid iron core. It is this core that is responsible for earths magnetic fields and thus it's gravitational pull.
All planets possess an iron core. The most massive object in our solar system, the sun, has the largest iron core and greatest mass. This is what gives it the preeminance of being at the center of our little piece of the galaxy.
As to earths orbit, it is a body tethered to an orbit by the gravitational pull of the sun. It is not symetrical but an elipse (oval shaped) and wobbles slowly on its own axis. Like all of the planets in our solar system it is drifting ever so slowly away from the sun with no perceptible impact on life on earth.
So fret not, and maybe pick up a book or two at the library or go back to school, just for fun or just for the information.

Answer 3

The Moon won't in any respect go away Earth's gravitational pull. the fee of recession is via many components, all of that are starting to be smaller by using fact the Moon strikes away. The ability comes from the tidal consequence that the Moon has in the international's oceans. In return for Moon's bigger orbit, Earth's rotation is bogged down. The slower our rotation, the less ability is transferred to the Moon's orbit. that's envisioned that (if not something interfered with the approach) that the Moon could attain a optimal distance in extra desirable than 10 billion years (some calculations say 50 billion years, yet i discover that slightly a lot). at that factor, Earth rotation (our day) could be precisely an identical by using fact the Moon's orbital era (our month), so as that an identical factor of Earth could continuously face the Moon. regardless of if, properly till now that, the solar will pass with the aid of its crimson sizable section (in approximately 5 billion years). on the time, the exterior of the solar will amplify outward to our orbit (type of). If it does, that's possible that the two Earth and Moon are "swallowed" with the aid of the solar. after all, the extra desirable "atmosphere" of the solar will probable interfere with the Moon's recession cost.

Answer 4

There is no consequence of taking minerals from the earth's crust.
The earth is not like a car because every day more than a thousand tons of space dust falls on earth. If this space dust does not affect the earth, then how can taking minerals?

If you ever do study gravity then you will find out that taking minerals has nothing whatsoever to do with Earth's gravitational pull.

Answer 5

The scale you are talking about needs to be considered. We are not taking any of the mass of the earth away from the earth, so in general we are OK. Also, most drilling is miniscule. Making an 8 foot hole that goes 5 miles into the earth is like sticking a long sewing needle into a 500 foot diameter ball of yarn.

Answer 6

youd have to remove all the components of what has been mined from the earth to cause a problem but thats a massive amount. besides everything mined still remains onthe planet regardless of where it is.