View Single Post
  #103 (permalink)  
Old 14-November-2008, 10:01 PM
cjameshuff's Avatar
cjameshuff cjameshuff is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Indiana
Posts: 1,450
Default

Tons, millions of tons, what's the difference...just a handful of zeros.

But, assuming 1e6 tons of matter transferred per FTE, at 1 FTE roughly every 8 minutes, it all adds up to an increase in mass of about 5% of Earth's current mass over 5 billion years, and assuming no change in density, an increase in diameter of 1.6%. This is ignoring the fact that these particles don't bother to stick around (the ones that eventually reach Earth impact the atmosphere, form neutral hydrogen and helium, and mostly escape back into space. The bulk probably goes straight into the tail of Earth's magnetosphere and never reaches the planet) and the fact that there's nowhere near "millions of tons" involved in each event in the first place.