The Weight Of The World

[The Lone Ranger]

Forgive me for my ignorance, but i was wondering:

There are more and more people coming on this earth, and we (humans) create more buildings etc. as well.

cars aren`t that heavy (compared to a skyscraper), but if you multiply it be a lot of millions they are heavy.

In the last couple of decades we have created so much, doesnt that mean the world has "put on some weight" and just got heavier.

So shouldn`t this have any effect on things like rotation speed and world mass/ gravity?

[libstaK]

Forgive me for my ignorance, but i was wondering:

There are more and more people coming on this earth, and we (humans) create more buildings etc. as well.

cars aren`t that heavy (compared to a skyscraper), but if you multiply it be a lot of millions they are heavy.

In the last couple of decades we have created so much, doesnt that mean the world has "put on some weight" and just got heavier.

So shouldn`t this have any effect on things like rotation speed and world mass/ gravity?

I'm not going to plead scientific expertise but actually the world weighs the same as it always has - pretty much. It is a matter of energy conversion. We need to metabolise foods/nutrients to grow we feed therefore we use those nutrients to grow etc. And as for the industry/cars, well we mined those materials from right here on earth in the first place, so barring meteorites and some seepage through the ozone (don't know if that equals anything significant V overall mass? but it wouldn't be much IMO) the amount of matter remains pretty stable just in different forms at different times.

[lostinthecrowd]

Libstak has it right. They'd know if the earth was getting heavier because of the satellites and the GPS system. The more mass an object has the more it drags on time apparently, time moves faster for objects and people in orbit so they have to set the GPS system and stuff all at certain times and it's really all complicated and I didn't pay may attention in science (wish I did) but yeah basically, we'd know if the earth got heavier.

Good thought though.

[Wandering]

I'm not going to plead scientific expertise but actually the world weighs the same as it always has - pretty much. It is a matter of energy conversion. We need to metabolise foods/nutrients to grow we feed therefore we use those nutrients to grow etc. And as for the industry/cars, well we mined those materials from right here on earth in the first place, so barring meteorites and some seepage through the ozone (don't know if that equals anything significant V overall mass? but it wouldn't be much IMO) the amount of matter remains pretty stable just in different forms at different times.

That works for buildings and cars etc, but what about people? They have not always been so numerous. Interesting question, does anyone think we could weigh the world down?

[Habitat]

Does the mass of the Earth include the stuff in orbit around it ?

[psychoticmike]

That works for buildings and cars etc, but what about people? They have not always been so numerous. Interesting question, does anyone think we could weigh the world down?

many people die everyday and there are numerous wars throughout the world, so i think that brings the numbers down. Another thing is think about all the wildlife we have killed and are killing, so we are more or less just replacing them with us.

[sepulchrave]

That works for buildings and cars etc, but what about people? They have not always been so numerous. Interesting question, does anyone think we could weigh the world down?

It is the same for people as it is for cars.

Apart from a relatively small amount of cosmic dust and meteors coming in, and a relatively small amount of satellites and atmospheric seepage going out, the total mass of the earth is constant.

Basically all the atoms that are currently in people were previously in other forms of life.

OK, that is an oversimplification, but the point remains: to gain weight, or make babies, you eat food - stuff that usually was some other living thing (unless you live off salt). You can't gain 5 lbs of weight without eating at least 5 lbs of food.

Human activity is just redistributing the matter on the Earth, not creating more or less of it (although if space travel becomes cheaper that may change).

[Habitat]

If everyone drank diet Coke and lost weight, the orbital trajectory of the earth would be seriously affected, IMO. And I am seriously against daylight saving time, as the extra hour of sunshine fades the curtains terribly.

[The Lone Ranger]

Yes I see now, its logical if you eat something, something else goes away.

but how about natural causes. The ice caps are melting away, that means less weight on the 2 polars. and the weight of the world is not being devided like it used to be. Most people live in asia, so there are more people on that side of the earth. more buildings etc. are being created as well. doesn`t this means that the shape of the world is changing. It may sound weird but if you think of it. if oil is being taken out of the ground parts of the earth are getting empty and those will either be filled with something (dirt/water etc.) or that what stands on top if it will push the ground in it. no matter what something changes. If weight is being placed on a different part is has to have some kind of effect right? And if shape and the dividing of the weight on the world is being changed wouldn`t this effect gravity

Another point. I read somewhere that the earthquake in Chile was so devastating that it actually placed the earth out of its orbit, it wasnt a big difference, but a difference nonetheless, this would effect for example the seconds in a day.

If these things (weight/gravity and time) are being changed, they would effect many laws right?