2006-08-29 02:35:42 · 7 answers · asked by Ahmed Yar K 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
The mass of the earth changes ever so slightly every day. Meteor impacts and the absorbtion of solar ejecta increase the mass, while the excape of ionized gasses decrease the mass. Man-made space probes also decrease the Earth's mass very slighly. Over millions of years, the Earth is very slowly gaining mass as it sweeps debris from its orbit.
2006-08-29 02:48:58 · answer #1 · answered by Deep Thought 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
As a theoetical matter, no it's not. A mass of a given size 1000 years ago would weigh slightly more today because the earth is heavier and would exert more of a gravitation pull today than it did 1000 years ago.
I remember seeing an approximate figure for how many tons of dust and space debris land on the earth every day. If you could find that figure, you could easily computer how much weight it has added in the past 1000 years. Compared to the estimated weight of the earth, I would have to guess it's an insignificant amount of weight.
2006-08-29 09:41:13 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Every day the Earth receives meteorites. A year's worth is several tons (mostly in the form of dust due to the vaporization of the meteors). It's true that 1,000 years of this does not amount to much (something like a couple of million cubic tons), but over the course of a million years, it's several feet worth all over the planet.
2006-08-29 09:48:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ther is absolutely no possibility of th emass of our earth at any time , but for the following reasons:
Asteroids falling on to earth - This can e considerabvle depending on the massof the object that falls to the earth.
The lossof mass on account of sattelites sent into the space and lost . This should be very infinitesimal compared to the total massof the earth.
Other than these two there is no possibility of any alteration in the mass of the earth
2006-08-29 09:45:13 · answer #4 · answered by Infinity 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Earth gets pelted with tons of space debris every day...so, more mass is added than is ejected by impacts or launches. This means that the earth is getting fatter.
But with a starting mass of 6 billion billion tons or so, even over a couple billion years, this added mass is pretty negligible.
2006-08-29 09:45:16 · answer #5 · answered by Professor 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It will be approximately the same as the time scale you have chosen is pretty small compared to the age of the earth.
2006-08-29 09:38:18 · answer #6 · answered by A 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has gained some weight from meteorites, but the significance is negligible.
2006-08-29 10:17:28 · answer #7 · answered by Scott S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋