Quote:
Originally Posted by Vash
No I think it did gain lot of mass from impacts and that's why dino cousins are smaller. Little big more gravity.
|
Someone earlier in this thread ran a quick equation, showing it was basically impossible to accrue this much matter in the period of time given.
Aside from the matter accrual theory, the matter "creation" theory, and the density reduction theory, there is another theory that could
conceivably be viable. It basically suggests the gravitational constant itself is decreasing, meaning gravity is getting less powerful. This would mean the gravity exerted by the earth would put less force on the matter being drawn to the center, and therefore it would expand. This is pretty farfetched, as we haven't observed this value changing, but heck, it could be possible. I do think, however, that a decreasing G would have much larger impacts on the universe than just earth swelling a bit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by irpq11
Ok, so did we establish that it would be unlikely that the moon could have remained in it's current orbit throughout the proposed theory or not?  |
No, we established the opposite. If the matter remained constant in the Earth, the moons orbit would be pretty much the same as it is now.
However, if we accrued mass, the orbit would definitely be different, or possibly even unsupportable.