How Heavy Is The Earth ?
Now despite science coming forward in leaps and bounds the simple question of how much the Earth weighs isn’t as straightforward as you might think. Certainly placing the earth onto a massive set of weighing scales isn’t an option. So how do we measure the total weight of the earth ?
Well scientists initially went about this task by trying to estimate the weight of a very large mountain and then simply scaling that figure up. However this method led to some peculiar results and since then the mathematics and calculations involved have changed taking into consideration further factors such as the volume and overall density of the planet.
If you combine the above with weighted samples of various parts of the planet scientists have come up with a more accurate number which they believe to be around 6 quadrillion kilograms. Mind boggling to say the least but if you think that’s a big number don’t forget to check out our article on the number Googol.
hey that is not the weight of the planet earth for the weight of the earth is only 109.72560 grams because of the weight of the gravity up in space you guys are such retards !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6 quadrillion kg = 6 x 10^12 kg.
ACTUAL mass of the Earth = 6 x 10^24 kg.
You’re out by a factor of a quadrillion or so.
Whoops, typo: 6 quadrillion kg = 6 x 10^15 kg, sorry!
Weight or mass? I was under the impression that weight was mass*gravity and that it was measured in newtons.
Ok, I think there is a misconception here, one thing is the mass of the earth and another is its weight. Unfortunately in our daily lives we don’t use the appropriate units; mass in measured in Kg and weight in Newtons (if you use the MKS system). Weight is related to the gravitational attraction of the bodies in question, or more precisely to the gravitational field present in the region of space where the body being weighed is located. That is why things on the moon weigh just 1/6 of their weight on earth, the gravitational attraction has changed, not the mass, it has been kept constant. Mass is the quantification of a property of matter, namely, inertia.
The article should be entitled “What is the mass of the Earth?,” and yes, it is about 6 x 10^24 kg.
Just one more thing, there is no need to insult anybody arriana.
If you read the article it’s not disputing what the possible mass of the earth is, because as everyone is quoting it’s known.
The article is posting a hypothetical scenario i.e that of if you were to weigh each gram of rock, soil etc on the earth according to earths gravitational forces what is the total weight of all the solid mass on the earth.
In short most of you are trying to be smart asses by posting the mass when that’s not what the author of the article is even talking about, nor is it what they intended the article to be about. If it was just pin pointing the mass of the earth, well that would be a pretty boring article.
Then the author still got his units wrong. An answer to “how much does the earth weigh?” should be in Newtons.
Brandon, you’re either a complete moron or just totally uneducated. Newtons is a measure of force used for gravity calculations. The author referred to weight which is typically measured in Kg, Grams, Stones etc.
When’s the last time you used a “WEIGHING SCALE” which had the measurement in Newtons… What a moron lol
“Newtons is a measure of force used for gravity calculations.” Thats what weight IS. Its the measure of gravitational FORCE. Kilograms are a measure of mass. Mass and weight are often used interchangeably, but theyre actually very different.
As to the “weighing scale” issue. There are basically two different types of scales, foce scales and mass scales. Mass scales balance the object being weighed against an object of known mass in order to determine the mass of the unknown object. These can be used on anywhere there is constant gravitational acceleration (ie. an object weighed with one will display the same mass on earth and on the moon.) Force scales use a spring or other means to measure the force an object exerts against the scale due to gravity, measuring what we refer to as “weight.” These types of scales depend on what planet the measurement is taken (ie. an object weighed with one will display a different weight on earth than it will on the moon.) However, force scales often output measurements in Kilograms. They can do this because as long as you use the scale on earth, an object with 5 kilograms of mass will always weigh the same amount (about 50 Newtons) and thus the makers of the scale can easily calibrate the numbers of the scale to display how much mass an object placed on it would have. keep in mind that this does not make it a mass scale. Your bathroom scale might tell you that you weigh 70 kilograms, but if you used it on the moon it would give you a different number even though your mass did not change.
This bring us to the point of the article. If you measured the mass or each chunk of the earth and then summed them up, you would get the total mass of the earth as a result, which is the number people are quoting in the comments. If you took a scale around every section of the earth and measures the WEIGHT of each section relative to where it was in the earth, you would get a different number, a number measured in Newtons. And this number would not be able to be converted into kilograms, because the gravitational acceleration is not constant everywhere there is mass in the earth (for example, the gravitational acceleration at the middle of the earth would be close to zero, meaning the material at the core of the earth has almost no weight.
You could have learned most of this by reading the wikipedia article on weighing scales, but instead you chose to make it apparent how ignorant you are.
Brandon thanks for the very thorough explanation of weight/mass and as you’ve stated both terms in general usage are used interchangeably. And I agree the term mass is probably the better term to use.
Also just to clarify most sources do cite the mass being closer to 6×10^24 which for brownie points is not 6 quadrillion but spoken as ??
And guys, thanks for all the comments but let’s try to be a little more friendly. After all this a site for learning! And learning should always be fun
However saying that it’s certainly great to see everyone stepping in and trying to correct, enhance and add to the articles.
the earth is exactly 5.9 sextrillion metric tons.
yes its a real word.
this is such useful information for us to know and understand and is very cool too. this kind of information can really help our nation to better understanding of our universe!!! thanks for these kinds of websites that help us and our generations!!!!
How much is 6 quadrillion any way?
COME ON GIVE THE ANSWER
Weight in physics is equal to mass times gravity. The Earth’s mass is approximately equal to 6 x 10^24 kg. Now for the gravitational force… well it sort of depends. If you take it on the Earth’s surface then it should be 9.81 m/s^2. However, if you calculate the gravitational field’s strength F = G * (M1 * M2 / R2) you’ll need to place the Earth on another planet, star, moon, rock, etc. so it will depend on what you compare it to like choosing Neptune Mercury or Mars. Solve for F and multiply to the mass. And since weight isn’t constant the information will be useless.
omg cool
Great job explaining the difference between weight and mass Brandon. And kudos for exercising restraint responding to the insults. There aren’t many things that are more entertaining than seeing a person condescend from a position of complete ignorance.
You know what I really enjoy? It’s reading comments from book-smart people with so few social skills, that they cannot accept someone else’s alternative argument or opinion without tossing in a few ill-mannered jabs. Grow up already.
who has anything better to do?
how many pounds is 6 quadrillian
the earth was 1 pound problobly
I actualy don’t know because I’M NOT A NERD
wat’s wrong with u ……………………its not weight its mass
weight=mass*GRAVITY
6 quadrillion kg = 6 x 10^12 kg.
ACTUAL mass of the Earth = 6 x 10^24 kg.
You’re out by a factor of a quadrillion or so.
earth is 5.98*10to the 24th power
which is 5,980,000,000,000,000,000,000,000kg
i really enjoyed it very much and i am very excited to see & learn about different facts
Ask the turtle that supports the earth in space, he will give you the correct answer.
all of you are acting like nerds.no offense.
and if im been mean im really sorry
I know samantha, whats with all these nerds? Its not like this is a science fact website.
the earth weighs sixsextillion tons. a unit followed by 21 zeros
Wow…lol
Hahazaza, I’m Sooooo Cool. lol
Brandon, not to mock your intelligence but rather to rectify a common error, the closer you are to the Earth’s core the stronger the gravitational force becomes. Take into consideration Newton’s Law of Universal gravitation—F=G[(M*m)/r^2]. The two masses being taken into consideration would be the earth’s and your own. The diameter would be measured by taking the distance between your center and the center of the Earth and then divide the result by two in order to get the radius—which you’d plug into the denominator of the equation. Therefore, the smaller the radius or the distance between you and the earth, the greater the force would become…increasing by a factor of four each time the radius is halved because in the equation ‘r’ is squared. And Zoe is right…this blog is to increase one’s knowledge-base. Not to be condescending in an attempt to glorify your own intelligence. Back up your info with ‘reliable info’—-Physics can be fun.
Oh btw more applicable evidence of my claim is seen when describing the earth’s core. If the gravitational force in the center of the earth were truly nominal then why is the earth’s molten core a continuous flow of nickel and cobalt rather than just a blob?
Does it realey matter what the weight is!
thank you (Just some dude ) for your straight forward answer, can you please explain how you calculated this ? (some of us truly are morons and need a little help)
well , not talking about the weight , i will just want to say that mass of earth is 6*10^24.
earth as it is suspended ina vaume with no gravity weighs nothing. weight is measured with how much force of gravity there is between you and the surface you measure against. the theory that any two material particles, if not acted on by another force will be accelerated tward eachother. as earth isn’t against anything to measure with we can’t tell its weight. we could calculate it’s mass though. i may be woefully wrong and if i am please let me know, thanks
wow lots of spelling errors, sorry it’s a vacume with no gravity and as such weighs nothing again if i’m wrong tell me
you are the retard if u think the earth weighs 109.72560 grams. u dont no shit about gravity u turd
Actually we cannot answer this question because Weight of any BODY is measured in comparison to the other bodie’s gravity.
So there cannot be any fixed figure attained for earth.
As for the Sun the weight of earth would be different and for moon it will be different.
UNDERSTOOD.
and weight is the amount of gravitational force
The Earth weighs nothing in the vacuum of space.
I didnt realise how bitchy you science lot got!
Samantha- if I’m BEING mean. Dummy.
Wow…. Cool Science FACTS!
ohhh……it is half of the weigght of the earth i know before ,which should i believe!
its a real number soo dnt b bitches about it lmfao
rawr rawr rawr ima dinosaur (;
my birthday is on january 28
ohh wait… its summer… dammit.
i live in jersey… oh gawd. im dumb. i hope theres no creepers on here. lmaooo. my names lexxy… if ya havnt noticed. (: ima labled as a ‘’scene-girl” har-har-har <.<
all very interesting, however what if this universe that we live in was the quantum physics of another hugley bigger universe ,how much would we weigh then to the giants of of exoverse ? answears on a postcard please .
It was great reading all of your information! So i guess it’s safe to say i weigh more than the earth because of the gravitational pull and the earth doesn’t? Or should we choose a place on earth, calculate the gravitational force, and use the calculation as a basis for the earth and everything else to big to sit on a scale? Just my thoughts!
i think that it is true i hav researched it on loads of sites and got exactly the same answer sooo it is correct xxx
Because due to the atmospheric pressure of the earth in the blood of the human beings surrounding air coms to an still and if it is so u cant measure the earths wieght because anything in space dont have weight.
DID ANY ONE UNDERSTAND IT .
Iam a student of MSC PHYSICS
I think that is not true…. For me,Arriana is correct the earth measures only 109.72560 grams.
Am i correct? <3