Does earth lose weight, water & oxygen, metals when astronauts, & mars landers take them from the earth?

Question

Does earth lose weight, water & oxygen, metals when astronauts, & mars landers take them from the earth?

Answer 1

Yes, in fact we lose a little bit of air to the technical boundary of "outer space" as well. Space isn't as empty as some people think, there is cosmic microwave background, sure, but there are particles from quantum fluctuations, solar weather, and in the vicinity of planets -- escaped gasses.

However, it's not like the earth is going to whittle slowly away -- after all, we receive more than enough in meteorites to make up for the matter that we're losing to outer space.

Hope that helps resolve your question!

Answer 2

The earth is more or less a closed system, so when these things are taken away, the earth would lose an infinitesimal amount of mass.

(the solar wind does add some weight by blowing cosmic debris onto the earth, as do meteor strikes).

Answer 3

A little, but not enough to make any difference. Earth looses far more mass by losing air from the top of the atmosphere to space all the time, and it gains more than that by meteors falling from space all the time. And those two things have been going on for millions of years with no noticeable amount of air gone and no big pile of meteors on the ground.

Answer 4

While it is true that materials that leave Earth DO add to the total of mass that isn't on Earth anymore, there are more that 4 BILLION tons of mass (material) that lands on the Earth every year.  This is ash and solid rocks/metals from meteors.  This is over the WHOLE Earth, land/oceans/ice, etc!  So the amount of material that leaves Earth, is like a drop in the bucket to what comes in every year.

Good Luck to ya!

Answer 5

Like taking a few grains of sand from the Pacific coast line.

The Earth is continually bombarded by meteors, dust, and other matter, an estimated 10**8 Kg per day.

Answer 6

Yes

Answer 7

Yes, it does, but the amount is negligible when compared with the mass of Earth.

Answer 8

well, yeah. If I take 1 apple from your 5 you have 4. Duh.

Answer 9

Yes,  but keep in mind that we are also getting bombarded every second by small meteors, and gaining a bit in the exchange.

Answer 10

Yes, and it might become a problem in a few quintillion years.

Answer 11

ya but its such a small mount on a global level that it doesent matter .nnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooowwwwww...

Answer 12

yeah, but not much, the amount lost would be miniscule