Physics and the universe question

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Obtrusive

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#1  Edited By Obtrusive

I was reading through a list of facts and I hit one that got me thinking a bit. Fact was "When you die, your body decomposes, and the atoms that contained “you” are recycled into Earth to be used again." When I first read that I went, well no duh. Everyone knows that. Then I started to wonder about it on a grand scale. Does the earth weigh the same as it did multiple thousands of years ago? Does the earth weigh the same if it supports 8 billion people vs only 3 billion? If so then there should be a finite supply of carbon atoms in existence and then you would reach a point where nothing else could exist because there is nothing left. If not then the world would just keep expanding.

Just a thought, post yours.

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#2  Edited By Obtrusive

Later in the same list of facts they say "We’ve all been here forever. Every bit of matter we see has been here since the beginning of time and it always will be.". Maybe that answers the question.

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7am_Waking_Up_In_The_Morning

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Yes and No 

Yes, because the Earth the life stream that takes and gives life through everything living or not living. The crust comes from the mantel  and everything is recyled so new bursting lava does not make the Earth weigh any differently when it hardens and becomes an island.   
 
But the atmosphere will change the weight by a few since gas can liquefy and become solid again and liquefy again in a cycle, but even the elements of the atmosphere comes from the Earth. So if the entire sky became solid gases in one moment, it would fall down towards the Earth and that would still be its own weight... 
 

The only NEW weight that is added onto the Earth are from meteorites from asteroids and comets.

 
So it's a yes and no.
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7am_Waking_Up_In_The_Morning

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The moon is even a part of Earth. 

 Which both are a part of the Sun's nebula before it ignited.  The thing is, once Earth used to be bigger, but a huge comet (from another part of the galaxy) smashed into it while the Earth was still in the terraforming state. The comet must of been massive because the Earth and materials of the comet exploded sooo high up into the sky, that gravity could not pull it back down.... Instead, however... The gravity kept the debris up into orbit. But there must of been a huge chunk that was floating some 240,000 miles up. So big of a chunk that it's own gravity pulled in all the smaller debris floating around the Earth's orbit. And since the entire Solar System is rotating due to the Gravitational Constant of the Universe. All these huge celestial rocks spin into spheres...... This is why all planets and stars are spherical in shape.
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#5  Edited By Obtrusive

@7am_Waking_Up_In_The_Morning: I know no one can weigh the earth, but there are estimations I have heard. Don't remember the numbers. I thought about asteroids but I figured that weight was pretty much negligible.

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@Obtrusive: It is weighed through its mass. Space by itself doesn't have gravity to measure a celestial object, so Earth actually weighs nothing. - In space. But by using its mass and placing Earth on top of another Earth (if possible), the other Earth would feel the pressure of weight on top of it. But if the Earth is sitting on top of the Sun's surface it would weigh more than it would laying on a twin Earth. If the Earth were on top of the moon, it would weigh less. but since we generalize or rather more familiarized with weigh measured in Earth, we would use Earth = 1 times the gravity.

But back to this:

Does the earth weigh the same as it did multiple thousands of years ago?

Weightless... (in space)

Some sextillion tons (on Earth) As did it some thousands of years ago. Give or take a million tons during a cycle.

Does the earth weigh the same if it supports 8 billion people vs only 3 billion?

Yes, because people materialize from Earth. (unless you're an alien from space)

Separate note:

There were 3 Billion people on Earth in 1980

So giant rocks or even tiny space debris being collected from space via the planet's gravitational pull is the only thing that would make our planet "gain more weight". If you count energy like the kinetic energy of our cores spin. It produces energy expanding out (the magnetic field or Magnetosphere), but those energies that are floating upward from the core and into space are replenished by the stuff we take in from space. like cosmic dust or light photons from he sun. I'd say the Earth probably fluctuates weight by a million tons back and forth during time cycle.