As I write this post, I am a lot less further east than I would have liked to be. In fact, I am about 3,544 miles away from where I needed to be. I was due to fly out to London on Sunday night, but that pesky Icelandic volcano put the kibosh on that plan.
Oh well, how can you argue against Mother Nature? It’s an argument one can’t win.
This volcano certainly is a powerful reminder how we humans exist and flourish on this planet at the whims of the planet — and not the other way around.
When a volcano spits out that much ash and lava, does the volume of the earth, or the diameter, decrease? If all the volcanoes in the world erupted at once and spewed all the lava and ash they could, would the volume of the earth, or its diameter, noticeable change?
I don’t feel qualified to answer this question scientifically, but allegorically I’d suggest that sure it does. I know that from time to time when I spew I feel my volume and diameter change noticeably.
I’m not sure that it would necessarily. When Conall spews his volume, he relies on gravity to keep that spewed content from returning to his diameter.
Consider if Conall were to lie on his back and then spew his contents. Those contents would rise into the air (much like a volcanic ash cloud) and would then settle back onto Conall due to gravity. So, whilst the contents spewed would no longer be inside Conall, they would effectively keep his girth the same.
That’s my non-scientific answer to the question.
I suppose it depends in great part where one defines the volume of the Earth.
If we only look at the volume based upon the core, mantle and crust then perhaps there might be some change (although spewing lava from the inside of the Earth becomes part of the crust-perhaps a draw regarding volume?)
If we extend the Earth’s volume to include the atmosphere (which has weight) then ash could be included in the calculation, but even ash eventually settles to the ground and oceans, thus becoming part of the volume of the Earth as previously defined.
Or have I completely lost my mind?