"Jonathan Silverlight" wrote
in message ...
In message , Luke J.
Nester writes
I have wondered if there is any way to know how earth's mass has
changed since its creation? It would seem that there should be a slow
increase in mass since the ways mass can be lost are few. Has this
been studied? How has this effected orbital parameters?

The only way that comes to mind is to examine the fossil record of day
length, and see if that varies more than can be accounted for by the
recession of the Moon assuming that the mass _doesn't_ change.
I suspect that's a very blunt instrument, and in particular I recall
reading about changes in the Earth's mantle and core that would affect
its angular momentum and hence day length but not the mass.
--
Rabbit arithmetic - 1 plus 1 equals 10
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I'm sure there is a slight increase of mass over time because of cosmic
debris that is constantly raining down on the planet. This increase is
insignificant compared to the current mass of the earth, however.