Tell Me Why
How Much Does the Earth Weigh?By the weight of the Earth, we do not mean that we put it on a scale and weigh it. Rather, what is meant is knowing the amount of matter that makes up the Earth, which is called “the mass of the Earth.”
The weight of the Earth’s mass is about 6,600 trillion tons, that is, 6,600,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons.
How did scientists discover that this is the mass of the Earth?
Scientists relied, in discovering the mass of the Earth, on the principle of the law of gravity, which says: any two things attract each other, and this happens because of the force of their masses and their distance. The larger the size of things, the greater the force that attracts them to each other.
To measure the weight of the Earth, scientists used nearly a ton of lead and hung it at the end of a thread, and they hung a certain weight at the other end. The attraction occurring between the weight and the lead is less than 0.00002 mm, and in this way you can imagine the precision of the difficult measuring process.
By this method of measurement, scientists can use mathematics in the process of calculating the weight of the Earth, according to the force of the Earth’s attraction to the weight.
Scientists also measured the force of attraction of one ton of lead on a metal weight, and by calculating the resulting relative difference, they were able to discover the mass of the Earth.
What is this mass composed of?
The mass of the Earth consists of a crust of solid rocks, followed by a layer called the mantle, which is also made of hard rocks and descends about 1,800 miles. Then comes the deepest part, which is the core, made of a very hot liquid substance concentrated in the center of the Earth, with a radius of about 2,100 miles.
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