My theory about our earth what do you think (read on)?

Question

were constantly drilling for oil taking and taking it from the earth to burn it away into the atmosphere so it is no longer on or in the earth,
plus we take big rockets and satellites off the earth again taking away from the earth.

Are we not making the earth lighter...whill this cause any effects?

nick c and scott r

get over yourselves!If you dont like the question just simples move on and dont answer.imbosiles.

Yes I did think it was a good question....I wanted to know something so I asked.That is the purpose of this site. d'uh.

Answer 1

Rest easy. While some mass may be lost, the earth gains mass from space dust, etc. falling into it.

Answer 2

Heh, all the oil and materials we've ejected off the Earth weigh so little compared to the mass of the Earth that they are completely negligible. The oil that is burned enters the atmosphere, where it stays, its mass does not leave the Earth.

The only materials that have really left the Earth are any spacecraft or satellites launched a good distance away from Earth.

Answer 3

Well first of all if we burn something the earth doesn't lose it, the object merely changes its form, such as to a charred mass and a gas.

When we fire something from the earth and don't bring it back then quite plainly some mass is lost from the earth but it is such an infinitesimally small proportion of the earths mass that it can be neglected.

On the other hand the earth is continually being bombarded with meteorites and dust particles from space, many of them burn up on entry but their mass still adds to that of the earth and a lot of them do land on the earth.

The earth's mass is therefore actually increasing, not decreasing.

Answer 4

Very little of the mass of a rocket actually leaves the earth and most of whats been launched into space has not left the gravitational field of the Earth, it being instead in decaying orbits destined to once again contribute to the mass of the Earth (indeed from an external view it still does contribute to the mass of the Earth).
The mass of the small number of probes that have left the Earth's pull completely certainly is less than the mass of meteorites, cometary material, space dust, solar particles and returned lunar samples that have arrived on the Earths in the past millennium.

It is only nuclear reactions that change the mass energy balance. Nuclear fission in reactors or atomic bombs split large atoms releasing energy and reducing mass. Nuclear fusion from a hydrogen bomb combines small atoms (hydrogen) into larger ones (helium) also releasing energy.

The mass change from nuclear reactions at this stage of human development remains negligible.

Burning natural fuels release energy locked in the chemical bonds forming the complex hydrocarbon molecules, resulting in simpler molecules such as carbon dioxide, water and carbon, but sum to the same mass as the original fuel. Burning such fuel does not transform mass to energy and results in no mass loss to the Earth as a whole (providing the atmosphere is included in that mass).

Answer 5

No effect. Not only are satallites of such tiny mass to be negligible, when they die they will eventually fall back to earth, so the loss of that mass is very temporary. Second, anything that is burned does not go into outer space, it goes into our atmosphere. That is not lost to the earth, it is still here. It will be reincorporated into the crust of the earth eventually anyway since the CO2 in the atmosphere is where plants get their carbon for virtually every compound they make.

Answer 6

The oil that we burn is still part of the Earth, since it is still in our atmosphere as CO2 gas. So the over all mass of the Earth doesn't change.

Sending satellites into space has only a negligible effect, since they are small compared to the Earth.

Answer 7

The Earth as a whole does not have "weight," it has mass. The atmosphere is part of the Earth's mass...anything we burn which becomes a gas is still contained in the mass of our planet (minus a bit converted into pure energy, which has no mass).

And, as noted, the amount of material we have removed from our planet is but an infinitesimal amount compared to that which rains down on us from the cosmos every day.

I've seen worse questions.

Answer 8

What really bothers me is that the oil and natural gas that man is removing from the earth is there for a purpose, perhaps the oil deposits are there to keep the heat from the center from penetrating the Earth's outter crust and with it being removed by man to fuel their economies, what will be the end result: more earthquakes, freak weather conditions, more volcanic eruptions occuring around the world, etc?

I am not a scientist, nor do I lay any claim to being one, but I am very interested in renewable energy sources and firmly believe that such new sources of energy are the keys to greatly improving the quality of life, for everyone on this planet, we all call our home. If man continues to drain this planet of its supply of oil, what will be the end results, besides the Greenhouse effects that we are starting to see happening to our planet now? Maybe the Greenhouse problems are only the tip of the iceberg with additional things to come.....!

Thank you,

Answer 9

Mining and burning oil doesnt make the earth lighter. The mass is just transferred to gas for the time being. The plants will grab it back in due time. Sattelites are NOT big compared to the earth. The amount of mass we have sent into space doesnt compare to even 1 millionths of a percent of teh mass of the planet.
Though, I like your thinking pattern, shows a strong mind and a good logical ability. You just need to bolster your background of knowledge. One day I believe you will be a fine thinker. Keep it up.

Answer 10

Um....well it is an interesting question. But I think the mass of the earth is so large that what we remove from it or add to it would not really have an effect. It would be like adding freshwater to the ocean and trying to measure a difference in the salt concentration. I think the difference is negligible.

Answer 11

Flyboy is right, and consider the weight of what is sent out of the planet compared to the weight of the entire planet.

Also, what goes in the atmosphere still counts as the planet mass... Else would big Jupiter weight nothing?

MJ

May I also remember some people that there are no stupid question (jokes apart).