The amount of water on the Earth is constant, or nearly so. Actually, the amount is increasing ever so slightly due to volcanic eruptions expelling water vapor into the atmosphere, but, for all practical purposes, the amount of water (as a gas, liquid and as snow and ice) can be considered to be constant.
How much of the world's surface is covered by water?
What is the cycle of water?
Why do oceans stay on Earth?
Why does the amount of water decrease in the Southern Hemisphere?
How is water converted to carbohydrates?
Why does water dissociate?
Where do rivers originate?
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Is the total amount of water on the planet constant?
The solar wind is mostly hydrogen, it's easy to imagine this material getting caught in, and becoming part of our atmosphere. It seems like the quantity of hydrogen we aquire from the solar wind should be constant (neglecting short term fluctuations).
Why is the amount of water on earth constant? | Socratic
The total amount of water on earth is NOT constant. Conservation of mass does not apply to compounds, only their components. Water (H2O) can be formed in different reactions and consumed (broken down into H and O atoms) in other ones.
Why does the amount of water remains the same on the earth ... - Answers
Nature's basic recycling of it. Water is continually drawn up from the surface of water bodies, becomes clouds, clouds bring rain. And the whole process repeats.
If the amount of water on Earth is constant, why do oceans rise?
Dear Tom, You have said the Earth is a closed system in which the amount of water is constant. So where do we get the extra water to make the oceans rise? — Roger Anderson, Winthrop Harbor Dear ...
Is Earth's total water finite? | Questions | Naked Scientists
Naked Scientist Hannah Critchlow posed this question to Phil Robinson from the Royal Society of Chemistry. He had this to say on a subject. Phil - The simple answer is yes. The Earth is effectively a closed system and the total amount water it contains is essentially constant. Now, some of that water is stored in humans temporarily while they're alive.
Does the amount of water on planet earth increase or decrease ... - Answers
Neither. We have the same amount of water on our planet now as we had a hundred years ago, water goes through a process called "The Water Cycle" while in some places water may be in small or large ...
How much of the world's surface is covered by water?
The world's surface is approximately 80 percent covered by water which is basically an indestructible product . Of this water , approximately 97 percent is salt water , 2 percent is frozen in glaciers , and 1 percent is available for use ."
What is the cycle of water?
There’s some ambiguity here on what’s meant by “fixed”. Water on earth is continually going through a cycle. I don’t mean the cycle you learn in geography - evaporation -> precipitation, etc. I mean the cycle involving photosynthesis and metabolism/oxidation. Large quantities of water are continually being converted to carbohydrates by photosynthesis, and ultimately converted back to water by these carbohydrates being used for energy in respiration or other forms of oxidation.
Why do oceans stay on Earth?
I think everyone is saying the same thing: The reason the oceans stay on the earth is the same as the reason you stay on the earth - earth’s gravitational force is sufficient to pull everything toward its center. Everyone on the planet perceives “down” to mean toward the center of the earth. And the oceans stay in place - slosh some because we rotate, bulge some due to the pull of the moon and sun, evaporate some then get replenished when it rains in the mountains and the rivers feed the oceans - but in general stay in place.
Why does the amount of water decrease in the Southern Hemisphere?
Conclusion - the amount of water on earth decreases during the Southern Hemisphere summer due to oceanic photosynthesis, and then increases again in the Southern Hemisphere winter.
How is water converted to carbohydrates?
Large quantities of water are continually being converted to carbohydrates by photosynthesis, and ultimately converted back to water by these carbohydrates being used for energy in respiration or other forms of oxidation. Now in general, this cycle is not changing the amount of water.
Why does water dissociate?
At the same time, molecules of water often dissociate in the upper atmosphere into hydrogen and oxygen due to ultraviolet light from the sun. Some of the hydrogen atoms have enough energy to escape from Earth’s gravitational field, and so are lost. This slowly decreases the amount of water.
Where do rivers originate?
Rivers originate from Glaciers. The amount of water on earth is regulated by the water cycle. Of which all three states of water exist only on Earth. 97% of water is liquid. 2% is Solid ice. 1% is fresh drinkable water of which, only 0.1% is rivers. All the share of water on earth is constant.
How much water does the Earth hold?
So, the more humans there are then the greater the volume of water that will be stored in that reservoir. Now, on average, a human will hold about 40 litres of water and if we take the world's population at around 7 billion, that gives a total volume of about 280 billion litres held in humans which is a lot at almost 1/3 of a cubic kilometre.
Will human population decrease water?
Hannah - So yes, Ian. You are perfectly right. Increasing human populations will decrease the amount of water left on Earth, but not by any significant amount.
Do humans have a reservoir?
In fact, to make it a billionth, we'd have to increase the world's population about 5 times. So, in short, yes, humans are a reservoir for the world water, but the amount of water that that represents is really just a drop in the ocean. Hannah - So yes, Ian. You are perfectly right.
How much water has the ocean lost?
It is estimated the earth's oceans have lost about a quarter their water over the past ~ four billion years - http://sciencenordic.com/earth-has-lost-quarter-its-water. The current supply of water on earth is estimated to be around 1.4 billion cubic kilometers.
What are the only losses that would occur if you included the components of water?
If you mean to include the components of water - Hydrogen and Oxygen - then the only losses would be that which escapes the atmosphere into space and that which Man has brought with him on his various explorations off-planet.
Why does water decompose?
Some water decomposes (for whatever reasons - high temperatures in volcanoes, radiolysis in high parts of atmosphere), and some of the hydrogen produced is able to escape to space. But we are talking about small amounts, if memory serves me well something like 100kt per year. Oxygen is too heavy for this path.
How is water broken down?
Water can be broken down by natural processes into hydrogen and oxygen, as Borek noted. Hydrogen can escape to space, explaining the mechanism for water loss on earth. While hydrogen and helium are light enough to escape into space, Earth's gravity severely constrains the amount of heavier elements that can escape into space. Earth also vast reserves of water trapped in the mantle and this water is slowly released over time, so the surface supply is continually replenished. Water is also supplied to earth via solar system debris. While current contributions are difficult to quantify, it is still widely believed they were a major source of earth's primordial water supply.
What is it called when water enters the ground?
That's a geology question. When water enters the ground, it sinks until it reaches a layer of nonporous rock, at which point it's called groundwater . Groundwater slowly makes its way downhill through porous rocks and eventually it empties into the ocean.
Is water a byproduct of space weathering?
Our findings establish that water is a byproduct of SW space weathering. We conclude, on the basis of the pervasiveness of the SW and silicate materials, that the production of radiolytic SW water on airless bodies is a ubiquitous process throughout the solar system.
How much of the world's surface is covered by water?
The world's surface is approximately 80 percent covered by water which is basically an indestructible product . Of this water , approximately 97 percent is salt water , 2 percent is frozen in glaciers , and 1 percent is available for use ."
What is the cycle of water?
There’s some ambiguity here on what’s meant by “fixed”. Water on earth is continually going through a cycle. I don’t mean the cycle you learn in geography - evaporation -> precipitation, etc. I mean the cycle involving photosynthesis and metabolism/oxidation. Large quantities of water are continually being converted to carbohydrates by photosynthesis, and ultimately converted back to water by these carbohydrates being used for energy in respiration or other forms of oxidation.
Why do oceans stay on Earth?
I think everyone is saying the same thing: The reason the oceans stay on the earth is the same as the reason you stay on the earth - earth’s gravitational force is sufficient to pull everything toward its center. Everyone on the planet perceives “down” to mean toward the center of the earth. And the oceans stay in place - slosh some because we rotate, bulge some due to the pull of the moon and sun, evaporate some then get replenished when it rains in the mountains and the rivers feed the oceans - but in general stay in place.
Why does the amount of water decrease in the Southern Hemisphere?
Conclusion - the amount of water on earth decreases during the Southern Hemisphere summer due to oceanic photosynthesis, and then increases again in the Southern Hemisphere winter.
How is water converted to carbohydrates?
Large quantities of water are continually being converted to carbohydrates by photosynthesis, and ultimately converted back to water by these carbohydrates being used for energy in respiration or other forms of oxidation. Now in general, this cycle is not changing the amount of water.
Why does water dissociate?
At the same time, molecules of water often dissociate in the upper atmosphere into hydrogen and oxygen due to ultraviolet light from the sun. Some of the hydrogen atoms have enough energy to escape from Earth’s gravitational field, and so are lost. This slowly decreases the amount of water.
Where do rivers originate?
Rivers originate from Glaciers. The amount of water on earth is regulated by the water cycle. Of which all three states of water exist only on Earth. 97% of water is liquid. 2% is Solid ice. 1% is fresh drinkable water of which, only 0.1% is rivers. All the share of water on earth is constant.
