A friend tells you that Earth is getting smaller. What can you tell him that show Earth's size isn't changing?

Question

This is the question, please be very serious with your answer...

Critical Thinking
Apply: A friend tells you he read on a Web site that Earth is getting smaller. What can you tell him that shows Earth's size is not changing?

Explain your answer on what will you show Earth's size is not changing.

-Be specific with your answer
- Provide much details

Answer 1

This is serious:

1. It's up to him to prove it is shrinking, not up to you to prove it isn't. He, after all, is the one who supports the hypothesis he read on the internet. Just say "Prove it".

2. You gave the source of his information as "the internet". That's too vague. Where on the interent? What web site? What "expert(s)" in what fields(s)? What proof did the internet article(s) present in support of the hypothesis? How can anyone support or deny those proofs if we don't know what they are?

2. What is meant by "getting smaller"? As you can see from the other responses, different people have different ideas about which quantity is decreasing. One person, who understands nothing about Einstein's Special and General Theories of Relativity, thought the mass was "getting smaller". Another thought you meant the size, as in the diameter and/or volume. Another seemed to think the entire universe is involved in the shrinkage.

The problem here is not so much your friend's outlandish claim as your inability to ask a critical question.

Answer 2

So nice!!! wish i could write like that! I'm gonna be pretty blunt here, so dont get mad. The idea is kinda partially taken from WITCH magazineand harry potter Try to use your wild imagination a bit more. Make unexpected twists. I'm sure it'll be great. Next, your story is very fast paced. Slow it a bit by adding details of the room the characters feelings..etc You have an extended vocabulary and that is excellent. I'll putpart of my own story and tell me what you think. P.S be as blunt as you can please!

Answer 3

Think about a figure skater spinning, when they draw their arms in, they spin faster. If the earth where getting smaller ,it would speed up, yet ,it's actually slowing down. Just this year there was 1 second added to the official time of the world.

Answer 4

Saying the world is getting smaller is not referring to it's size, but to the improvements to our transport system which enables us to get to different places around the world in shorter and shorter periods of time.

Wasn't there a Peanuts strip based on this? Lucy overheard someone saying the world was getting smaller, decided it was due to erosion, and went on a mission to stop everyone wearing down the earth?

Answer 5

the best way to explain it is the fact that gravity would change along with the earth. is 50 lbs. heavier than it was 50 years ago? its kind of relative when you think about it. people jump higher and live longer now which are indicators that the planet is more than likely taking on mass from debris floating around. had gravity increased, than the added stres on the human body more or less would be suffering as a result. why are kids getting taller and taller instead of getting shorter by the stress of gravity. id make that arguement

Answer 6

I would say that the earth is actually getting bigger. As we move through space we are leaving behind some particles in the atmosphere. But then we are getting hit by many particles from space. Even if they disintegrate in the atmosphere, there are microscopic particles that survive and add to earth's mass.

Answer 7

your friend is damn right. This is the science behind this, when a matter travels it loses energy which means it loses mass by einstein's famous equation E=m*c^2. so when earth travels very fast it loses energy which in turn results in decrease in mass and size... but this is very small to calculate...but obviously one day it will lose its mass and fall into sun..

Answer 8

These answers are all thought-provoking. One "proof" that was brought up is, that (with the law of conservation of angular momentum) the earth's rotational speed should be increasing if it's diameter is decreasing. And, as stated, it is not doing that. One of the proofs of that is that through study of growth features on molluscs of the early Paleozoic Era, it is known that there were as few as 20 hours in a day at that time (some molluscs are known to produce daily and yearly growth lines on their shells, and a count of the number of daily ones within one year of the life of the mollusc gives the number of hours in a day). The Einsteinian equation answer is interesting, but as stated there, a mere 18 miles per second (plus galactic and other motions) is very insignificant, and any decrease in mass probably is more than offset by increases due to micrometeorites which fall to earth constantly.

Answer 9

Entire universe is getting smaller & breaking into parts,he is right,it is very logical need no evidence

Answer 10

It is not getting smaller retard.