Is the quantity of water in the world a finite amount? The same amount, either as a solid, liquid or vapor.?

Answer 1

Water is constantly being created by the burning of hydrogen rich fossil fuels (petroleum, gasoline, methane) and wood. Burning a tank of gasoline produces over 100 pounds of water which is blown out the tailpipe of the car.

On the other hand, water is constantly being combined with carbon by photosynthesis in green plants, removing thousands of tons of water from the air each day.

However, compared to the total amount of water in the oceans and in glaciers on land, the daily creation and removal of water is a small percent of the total.

The total water on the Earth would not be sufficient to cover the surface of the earth, although if all the world's ice were melted it would probably raise the level of the worlds oceans by a few hundred feet.

Answer 2

I've often pondered that question.

I figure that the answer must be yes: the combined quantity of water in all of its forms must be finite and must have been so for as long as the Earth has been around.

If all of this quantity was somehow converted into liquid water, how high would the sea level be, I wonder? Would it completely cover the globe? If not, we would be able to say that the Biblical flood was not global, but was limited to Mesopotamia (as is suggested by archaological evidence)

Answer 3

No.

When you drive a car, you burn gasoline, and in addition a number of nasty by-products, this creates water molecules. Many other similar processes produce water, too.

Of course water molecules are also destroyed in some processes, and the hydrogen and oxygen incorporated into other compounds.

Answer 4

Yes.