Earth is getting 50,000 tonnes lighter every class , even while 40,000 MT of quad dust fall on our major planet ’s Earth’s surface during the same period of time . So , why are we losing so much weight ? You will be surprised .
At least , I never considered this and I was surprised to hear the reasoning inMore or Less , a BBC Radio 4 programme about statistics and number . According to Dr Chris Smith and Cambridge University physicist Dave Ansel ’s calculations , despite those 40,000 tonnes of space dust that become part of our planet every year , Earth loses 50,000 t of flock . Is it because we keep plunge rockets ? No . These are their back - of - the - nappy calculations :
Adding weight
• Earth gains about 40,000 tonnes of dust every year , the leftover of the formation of the solar organization , which are pull by our graveness and become part of the matter in our major planet . Our planet is actually made from all that starstuff .
• NASA says that Earth benefit about 160 tonnes of topic a year because the global temperature is going up : “ If we are adding energy to the organization , the stack must go up . ” Oh , those crazythermodynamics .
No effect
• Of course , deliver more people or build stuff does n’t lend any mass to the planet . Humans and things are made with the matter that is already in the planet . It ’s just being transmute .
• Most of the rockets and orbiter that we launch to Earth orbit eventually come down down back to Earth , so no tangible effect here .
Losing weight
• world ’s core lose energy over meter . It ’s like a giant atomic reactor that burns fuel . Less energy means less mass . 16 tonnes of that are go every year . Not much .
• And here ’s the big mass loss : about 95,000 tonnes of hydrogen and 1,600 tones of helium get away Earth every class . They are too light-colored for gravitational attraction to keep them around , so they get misplace . go into space .
The result : the rough estimate is -50,000 metric ton every yr . Which is about 0.000000000000001 % less flock every twelvemonth .
Should we be disquieted about Earth disappearing into thin line ? No , you should n’t . And you should n’t care about lose hydrogen . There ’s lot and it will take zillion of years to use up it .
Helium , on the other manus , is a different matter . It act 0.00052 % of the volume in our air , but it ’s mainly harvested from natural accelerator pedal using a summons called fractional distillation . Helium is becoming scarce in our major planet . In fact , Cornell University physicist andNobel Prize - achiever Robert Richardson once said that each floating political party balloon should have a $ 100 price tag , who campaigned against the US Government determination to sell the nation ’s He reserve by 2015 to keep prices down .
He ’s probably right , considering that it is crucial for devices like MRI scanners , where it is used for cooling superconducting magnets and growing Si and germanium crystals as well as the production of titanium and zirconium . [ Download the program here ( 5 M ) ]
EarthScienceWeight
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