“What with practically every artifact found being dug up, dust from outer space falling by the mega-tons every year, I’d say the Earth diameter was much smaller eons ago also.”
No, not really. The Earth is losing nearly twice as much mass as it gains each year according to some estimates. One of the estimates claims a net loss of 50,000 tonnes per year after a 40,000 tonne gain in gas, dust, and meteoric material. At those rates it would take trillions of years to make an appreciable change in the Earth’s mass. The Sun will either vaporize much of the Earth’s upper surface or consume the entire Earth within only a few billion years as the Sun swells in size to become a giant red star with its photosphere located somewhere near to the Earth’s present orbit. The Sun will either lose enough mass for the Earth’s orbit to expand outwards into the Solar system near to the present orbit of Mars, allowing a partially vaporized and smaller Earth to survive, or the Sun will expand beyond the Earth’s orbit and the Earth will be vaporized into hot gases and incorporated into the Red Giant Sun.
Fried Planets
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/25oct_friedplanets/
So is the Earth losing 50,000 tonnes per year of atmosphere?
Are those estimates as accurate as those which are used in computer models that "prove" anthropogenic global warming? < /sarc >
We need more taxes to stop the loss of loss of 50,000 tonnes per year!