Theory of an Expanding Earth

In the comments to our post on continental drift, someone suggested the theory of a growing Earth.
(http://on.fb.me/Mv6bSr)

The theory of an expanding Earth has been around quite a while. In the 1950s and 60s it was a highly discussed topic but modern day measurements were able to rule this theory out. It isn’t easy to measure the Earth, since a tape just doesn’t do it. So the best way is to use satellites. But they have to be placed carefully. The Earth’s surface is ever changing. Norway is still rising since weight of the ice sheets from the ice ages is missing, causing a eustatic compensation.

Read about Measuring the Earth on ScienceDaily: http://bit.ly/Msxwsv

In the end scientists were able to limit possible change to 0.004 inches (0.1 millimeters). This is below the uncertainty of their measurements and therefore, rules the theory of the Expanding Earth out. On the other side, plate tectonics can be supported by several forms of measurements.
Read about Measuring Plate Motion on about.com: http://bit.ly/MsyJjG

-JSD

Picture: Hilgenberg 1933, About the Expanding Earth

via The Earth Story’s Facebook Wall

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Jesper Dramsch

PhD Student at The Way of the Geophysicist

... is a geophysicist by heart. He works at the intersection of machine learning and geoscience. He is the founder of The Way of the Geophysicist and a deep learning enthusiast. Writing mostly about computational geoscience and interesting bits and pieces relevant to post-grad life.

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