Is the earth lighter now because of man burning fosil fuels?
The correct answer is that the earth has more mass, but this has nothing to do with the burning of fossil fuels. The earth is constantly being bombarded by small particles of dust from outer space, and these particles add mass to the earth, albeit a small amount per year. The burning of fossil fuels does not remove mass from the earth.
No, absolutely not. Matter cannot be created nor destroyed. Same with energy. You might look like you’re destroying a barrel of oil when you burn it away, but all that you’re doing is changing its matter from a liquid to a gas particulate. The total mass and energy is still there, it’s just that the same mass of gas takes up more room and is “lighter” than the original liquid. Same thing as if you take a brick and hit it with a hammer. Now you have many pieces of brick, but you still have the same mass of brick. Then, just to get into semantics, “lighter” is a measurement against gravity. Mass is what creates the strength/pull of gravity between objects. A cubic foot of steel has more mass than a cubic foot of marshmallows. Sort of goes to that elementary school trick when some wise-*** asks you, “Which weighs more, a ton of scrap metal, or a ton of feathers?” Interestingly, Earth’s mass is changing – but not because we’re burning fossil fuels. There are always a small amount of atmosp
