Is it true that Earth is going to run out of air in a billion years?
How do we know this?
And, if true.....what are we gonna doooo...!??
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answers:
D say: I DON'T PLAN ON BEING AROUND THEN SO WHY SHOULD I CARE
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Ronald 7 say: We will be gone long before that happens
Oxygen is on of the base substances in the Universe
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busterwasmycat say: There is a slow loss of mass to space as the outer edges of the atmosphere get swept away by the solar wind. The mass being lost is mostly hydrogen. The loss to space is offset by gain from space (meteorites and space dust) so total earth mass is slowly (very slowly) growing. However, the mass being lost is in the volatiles, the gaseous materials, and the mass being added is more rocky materials. A main preventative against atmospheric loss is the magnetic field because it channels the solar wind around the earth, for the most part. Acts as a shield of sorts.
As long as the field remains in place and strong, the atmosphere will only slowly dissipate, and much of what is lost gets replaced by migration from inside the earth (gases from volcanoes, say). As the earth cools, though, that field will weaken, and even if it does not, there is still a slow but preferential loss of volatiles and hydrogen. Hydrogen is mostly from water, so water will slowly (slowly, very slowly) evaporate and break down to try to replenish the lost hydrogen. It will ultimately fail. Eventually, the earth will become a dry planet with a thin atmosphere. that is the natural evolution of a planet, the expected change with age. Just a question of rate and time.
I don't know about the billion-year time frame, but it is expected to be on that order of magnitude, a couple billion years, give or take some time depending on details.
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Jeffrey K say: Earth hasn't run out of air in 4.5 billion years. So why would it in the next billion years?
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nineteenthly say: No.
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Bill-M say: Not 1 Billion years. 4.5 Billion years would be closer to the time.
That is when our sun will expand into a Red Giant.
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Adullah M say: If we live that long then we would be the last one to breath in that last air on earth.
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JosephV say: The time period involved is too vast to make a prediction.
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Nyx say: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~meech/a281/ha...
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canadacraig say: HOLD YOUR BREATH NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
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poldi2 say: Probably not until the oceans are boiled dry by the expanding sun.
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