Mass cannot be created or destroyed. This being said, with all that humanity has built and made, we have only changed matter. The only ways I can conceive of our Earth increasing in mass is from meteorites & energy from the sun. Perhaps my real question is, does the energy from the sun add to the mass of our planet and does anyone know approximately by how much?
2007-09-12 07:09:28 · 4 answers · asked by scottnra 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
gebobs, Vincent, "=" in E=mc^2 means "equals". What is it about "equals" that you don't understand?
The sun's radiation energy E *does* add a miniscule mass to the objects on earth which absorb it by an amount E/c^2. However, yes, over the long term, most of the energy is re-radiated back out to space as infrared. This is all small compared to mass lost from the atmosphere to space through erosion, and gained by asteroid, comet, and solar wind influx.
2007-09-13 14:36:54 · answer #1 · answered by Dr. R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Earth gains about 40,000 metric tons of mass every year from meteorites, mostly dustlike grains of silica.
The energy of the Sun adds no mass to the Earth, only energy.
To Doug, technically mass does not get created or destroyed. The equation from special relativity, E=mc², is a mass-energy equivalence.
You may as well say that ice is destroyed when it is melted.
2007-09-12 07:14:02 · answer #2 · answered by gebobs 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The energy form the sun does not add the the mass, only the meteorites do that.
Even if the sun's energy would amount to some mass gain (it does not, but assume it would) the fact is that the earth radiates as much energy out as gets in; in the form of infrared energy.
2007-09-12 07:15:29 · answer #3 · answered by Vincent G 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pretty much the same as has been said above.
But mass (matter) can and does get created and destroyed when it is changed into energy (mass and energy being the same thing) according to the formula
E=mc²
Doug
2007-09-12 07:33:27 · answer #4 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋