Re: earth/moon relationship

CALYK@aol.com
Fri, 24 Oct 1997 15:55:59 -0400 (EDT)


In a message dated 97-10-24 04:00:59 EDT, you write:

<< Well, if we were to erroneously assume that the moon is the same size it
always was, and that the earth has expanded due to accumulated
meteoroidal material, then we would need to have accumulated material to
be 750 miles deep over the entire surface. This comes out to an
accumulation rate on average of one tenth of an ince every decade. Since
total new soil generation on earth averages one inch per 30,000 years,
coming from all sources, including erosion of existing rock, I find this
figure highly specious.

Since we know that the moon has accumulated material at a far faster
rate than the earth, due to its higher angular velocity allowing it to
sweep through more space than the earth while taking advantage of the
earth's greater gravity well as an attractor of material, we can
conclude that the only time in earth's history that the moon may fit
into a tetrahedron large enough to fit inside the earth, is sometime far
into the future, so long as the sun doesn't go nova first.
> >>

No not at all, the earth has been expanding due to matter from the inner core
being moved into the mantle, (the inner core is 3 times as dense as the
mantle)...(well im not sure if its the inner or outer core, or a process of
both) which happens at a far faster rate than soil deposits on the earth or
moon. Im referring to the study (sorry no references, Ill ask some people
and try and find out) that concludes that if you fit the continents back
together again into the original land mass, the only way they'll fit properly
is if the earth was 80% of the size that it is now. And since the moon
doesnt have a hot mantle (well, im not sure if it did back then though, it
doesnt seem like it) it would have been approximately the same size (maybe a
mile smaller due to the meteoric impacts you were talking about).

danny