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Science

Silent3

(15,909 posts)

3. Do you realize the vast mass of the moon and what an incredibly tiny amount we could take away?

Reply to thecrow (Reply #2)

Sat Sep 17, 2022, 09:59 PM

Sep 2022

Last edited Sun Sep 18, 2022, 12:13 PM - Edit history (2)

The mass of the moon is 7.342×10²² kg.
The mass of, say, Mt. Everest is 1.75×10¹⁴ kg.

Take away an entire Mt. Everest worth of material and the moon will be 0.00000023835% lighter.

Imagine you're driving your car, and a mosquito that landed on your windshield is blown off as you drive. How differently do you think your car would handle after losing the weight of a mosquito? That's about the same effect as taking away a Mt. Everest's-worth of material from the moon.

And we're currently a long way from even taking away a decent sized truckload of material, forget about mountainous quantities.

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Highlight:

Humans want to mine the moon. Here's what space law experts say the rules are [View all] Judi Lynn Sep 2022 OP

I do not foresee this happening with our current tech level. cstanleytech Sep 2022 #1

Wouldn't that make the moon lighter? thecrow Sep 2022 #2

Do you realize the vast mass of the moon and what an incredibly tiny amount we could take away? Silent3 Sep 2022 #3

Agree, it simply is not economically feasible at this moment and time to cstanleytech Sep 2022 #4

Tritium mining might be worth it Silent3 Sep 2022 #5