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If we took material like rock from space and got it back to Earth enough times, would Earth grow as a planet?
(sh.itjust.works)
As the title says. I'm actually thinking about this hard with my friends because everything that's produced on Earth stays on Earth so it doesn't change size, but what if it's not from Earth but it stays on Earth?
Simple Answer: Yes.
Everytime we launch something into space the mass of Earth itself decreases by that amount. There is also energy trade off with the mass stealing a bit of earth's momentum/energy for it to continue as well.
Overall, we're talking about absolutely micro, if not smaller changes in mass and energy and it ultimately has zero affect on anything.
Would it really be a net negative though? Earth constantly has things burning up in the atmosphere. It turns into dust, gas and energy but it still is added.
Also long term you shouldn't have a negative change in mass. That would be against entropy
Earth only really loses it if it reaches escape velocity, otherwise it's still part of our gravity well... So basically, a handful of probes...