Why doesn't the world

[brenda]

collapse inwards?
Did not know where to post this so have gone for nature.
The question ---- as we extract things from the earth , gas , oil minerals and so on , and there is more weight on the earth's surface buildings , people and so on.Why doesn't the earth as the globe we know it to be manage to stay in shape. Why doesn't it all collapse, and everything fall inwards.?
Sorry but I know absolutely nothing about the structure of the earth, and feel as though I have asked a very child like question.Any info would be well received . Many thanks.

[douglas9401]

Because it's flat Brenda.

[brenda]

I asked for that douglas lol.

[gingejbee]

After today's sorry events, I think it may well be, Brenda.

[brenda]

Ginge -- you know have thought about this for a long time now , in the light of all these dreadful events and so many lives lost.Just curious really.

[Whickerman]

Let's take the quake today as an example. It occurred 15 miles underground. That is considered really shallow - the world is quite huge!
Now, all the weight that's on the earth has always been here, every brick is made from material that was on the surface (relatively speaking) already. The amount of gas, oil etc is barely scratching the surface - literally.

[brenda]

Thanks Whickerman--- but as you remove stuff from the earth , what takes its place?

[scotman]

slightly off topic, I have often wondered what is happening to the mass of the earth. We are burning trees, coal, oil etc but we are adding people. Is there an overall change in mass caused by this?

[jomifl]

Oil and gas comes from the spaces between rock grains, so they stay there and support the rocks above them as before. Some exhausted mines remain as holes in the rock which hasn't been weakened enough to collapse. Some mines like coal mines are allowed to collapse in a controlled way as the material is removed. So in some areas the earth does get just a little bit smaller (dimensionally).

[DTCwordfan]

the mass stays the same - in theory, net of any emissions out into space, or inwards. So scotman, your farts are still around!

[whiskeryron]

earthquakes,tsunamis,volcanic activity,change in weather patterns is it all significantly pointing to the end on December 21st 2012 ?
( Da, Da, Da, Dah, Dah. War of The Worlds Music )Ron.

[heathfield]

The seabed in the Norwegian Ekofisk oil and gas field was found to have sunk by approximately 3 metres after 10 years of operation. This was blamed solely on the extraction of oil and gas. As Jomifil has said, the oil and gas comes from the spaces between the grains in the rock. But at Ekofisk, the extraction reduced the pressure within the underlying rock causing it to slowly collapse in on itself. It's what's known as 'pore compaction'.

[brenda]

heathfield------thank you for those interesting facts---appreciated.