Original version

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

CrowdScience

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

CrowdScience: Does my equator look big in this?

Discussion & Talk

GettyImages-172289484_crop.jpg

18/06/2021 GMT

Does my equator look big in this?

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Does my equator look big in this?

Is the Earth getting heavier or lighter? Which tips the scales: meteorites falling from space or gases escaping from our atmosphere?

Scales don’t come planet-sized, so answering a question from David in Ghana may require some ingenuity, after all, calculating the weight of the Earth is a huge task.
Using a set of weighing scales and a 400 year-old equation, Marnie Chesterton attempts to find out just how much the Earth weighs and is it getting heavier or lighter over time?
But how would a planet gain or lose mass? Which tips the scales: meteorites falling from space or gases constantly escaping from our atmosphere? 
And does the answer have any implications for the future of Earth? Could the atmosphere eventually run out? 
 
Contributors:
Anuradha TK, former project director at ISRO
Matt Genge, geologist at Imperial College London
Jon Larsen, researcher at the University of Oslo 
Anjali Tripathi, astrophysicist 
Ethan Seigel, journalist and astrophysicist

Presented by Marnie Chesterton.
Produced by Caroline Steel for the BBC World Service.

[Image: Earth on scales. Credit: Getty Images]

Accessibility links

Programme Index

CrowdScience

Does my equator look big in this?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

About BBC World Service