I'm interested in this conservation of energy/mass idea?

Q

Questions

Member
So disregarding everything else and assuming earth was completely stable, like no precipitation or loss of elements through space....is this planet basically staying the same mass? Like population is increasing greatly, but all the new people had to consume something to be where they are at...do i sort of have the right idea? It's just something I thought of today lol...if i'm wrong can you explain? thanks!
Just a question out of curiousity
 
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Philip

Member
Yeah the planet is pretty much staying the same weight.

Even with animal life, we take our physical body mass as we grow from the air, water, plants, animals, etc.
Part of all we consume or absorb becomes part of our body mass, and of course we routinely wee, poop and lose hair and dead skin cells, etc.


Also overpopulation is a bit of a silly science, the Earth has the potential to have much more bio-mass than it currently does. The core of the Earth for example is full of rich nutrients which plants would thrive on, and if brought to the surface we could produce heaps more food.
I believe the Earth can sustain alot more life than currently inhabits it.
 
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john

Active member
Well of course the atmosphere is gradually being lost. Also you have a point. All life on earth is basically turning mass into energy through their life processes. So a little is being lost. The food that you ingest is digested (oxidized) to provide energy for movement etc. and to keep your body temperature right. In fact building designers allow about 300W per occupant when doing heating calculations. So over a VERY long period the total mass of eath is also being reduced bny this effect.

"Also overpopulation is a bit of a silly science, the Earth has the potential to have much more bio-mass than it currently does. The core of the Earth for example is full of rich nutrients which plants would thrive on, and if brought to the surface we could produce heaps more food.
I believe the Earth can sustain alot more life than currently inhabits it."

Sure it does Philip - except that our energy demands are more than our resources can provide. Yes the core of the earth is fiull of nutirents... how do we get them without using MORE energy?
Also how do we grow an ever-increasing amount of food without more space to grow it on?
Silly science - I suggest you grow up and realise that the Earth cannot even sustain our existing level of population indefinitely. And read Larry Niven's book Ringworld.
 
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