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Will Earth collapse on it's self?

For the ore that gets extracted, with not know how far deep the ocean's opening, the earthquake? Taking stuff out of the ground like blocks out from a Jenga game it can just collapse at some point. With the caving from years ago. The potonic plates. How is not going to happen? Does the sun keep in place in it's gravity? Is that we get more tired at night?

11 Answers

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  • Link H
    Lv 6
    3 years ago

    Not precisely related but a great story and video. Drillers punched a hole through the bottom of a lake and into a massive salt mine underneath. The lake drained into the mine, taking the rig down with it.

  • Anonymous
    3 years ago

    The amount of material being extracted is not even a tiny percent of 1 percent of the mass of the Earth.

    The sun keeps the Earth in orbit due to gravity - the mass of the Earth does not change just because we dig up some ore, it is still on the Earth.

    We get more tired at night because we have evolved to be awake during daylight hours and to sleep during night time hours.

  • Dale-E
    Lv 7
    3 years ago

    Look into subsidence. It happens as the water table under ground goes dry.

  • 3 years ago

    No, the force of gravity is not strong enough to squeeze the earth into a smaller object than it is currently. The nuclear and electrical forces found in matter keeps things apart. In fact these forces keep us from being pushed through concrete pavement towards the center of the earth. Quick sand and mud of course cannot do that. Nevertheless, eventually we will be stopped even if we fall into quick sand, when we encounter a more solid layer of the earth's crust.

    The sun can shrink but the energy produced by the fusion of hydrogen atoms is strong enough to keep it from shrinking. When the sun runs out of energy (estimated 4-5 billion years from now), it will then expand and become a red giant (engulfing the earth in the process and burning everything here on earth) before shrinking back to become a white dwarf. Even heavier stars than the sun can become neutron stars, which are very tiny but heavy. If a star is heavy enough, it can become a black hole when it runs out of fuel.

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  • ?
    Lv 7
    3 years ago

    No.

    It simply can't happen.

  • 3 years ago

    The earth is really, really, really big. Mining can lead to collapse of the local area if done improperly, but our mining is just a tiny scratch of the surface of the earth, so the earth itself is not in danger.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    3 years ago

    No. Removing ore from the ground in one place and depositing in another only results in the original location rebounding and the new location sinking. Think of the earth as a gigantic pillow. When you lay your head on it the part where your head is sinks and the rest of the pillow material is pushed elsewhere.

  • 3 years ago

    The mass of the Earth has all ready "collapsed" on its self. There are no giant hole to collapse. Gravity has all ready pulled all of the mass together into one slightly deformed sphere.

  • 3 years ago

    The earth has a diameter of almost 8,000 miles. The deepest mine in the world is only 2.4 miles deep. That is 0.0003% of the distance into the earth.

    That would be like expecting that a pin prink hole that you made in the skin of an apple would be enough to make the whole apple collapse on itself.

    The sun has nothing to do with the earth not collapsing. It does collapse because it is a solid object and mine just barely scratches the surface of it.

  • 3 years ago

    no unlikely not in our life time anyway

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