this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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I dont remember the age, but it was before Kindergarten, thought men came into the house at night to load the next days shows into the TV.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I remember asking my dad if the Earth ever got heavier besides when meteors landed and babies were born.

I couldn’t comprehend that babies were made out of food. I thought they just came from nothing.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago

"babies were made of food" gave me a chuckle! a bit of a shower thought moment :)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yup, and food is made almost entirely out of carbon dioxide and water.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Uh, pretty sure we add the oxygen when we eat the food.

Plants eat CO2

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, so the plants turn carbon dioxide and water into cellulose and water mostly, herbivores digest the cellulose into protein and carbohydrates we can eat, we eat them and turn that protein and carbohydrates into our bodies and energy using oxygen, back into carbon dioxide and water and expel it. It's the carbon cycle.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Right. But CO2 isn’t in the food like you said above. We make it into CO2 when we use the energy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you thick? The food is made into food by plants from it.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

When plants undergo photosynthesis, they break the oxygen off the CO2 molecule and create carbohydrates. At this point, the CO2 molecule ceases to be. So to say that there is CO2 in food is incorrect. Our bodies recreate the CO2 when recovering energy from those carbohydrates.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I said food was made from carbon dioxide and water, and repeatedly explained the process I was referring to. I never once said carbon dioxide was "in" food, although even if I did I don't think it is this easy to misunderstand what I'm saying.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago

You said it’s made “of” carbon dioxide, not “from” carbon dioxide. Different prepositions carry very different meanings in this context.

I’m glad we agree on the process. Your initial statement was imprecise and led to confusion.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Apart from the babies thing, that's still a very interesting question. I bet someone knows the answer, but I wonder if the weight of the earth increases or decreases on average. I'd have to guess it's a net increase from picking up stuff as we move through space, which probably dwarfs the mass of stuff we've sent out (especially if you don't count satellites since they're more or less still tied to earth). I don't think there's anything like natural ejections of matter from earth either.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

If I recall correctly, it decreases. We lose more weight of atmospheric gas than we gain weight of meteorite material.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Additional external mass is additional mass. shrug

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

couldn’t comprehend that babies were made out of food

They … arent made out of food .....

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Their mass is derived from matter ingested by the mother.

I mean, we’re all made of star stuff, but in the local sense, mothers can turn the food they eat into babies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah that's what you meant. I thought sperms got confused as food

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

"More evidence we need better sex ed! People don't know where babies come from!"

PS: sperm is made of food.