Look at this--a theory that planets grow!

[Jaeda]

I remember catching some news blip somewhere involving a theory about the Grand Canyon and Ice... I don't recall the details though unfortunately.

The Grand Canyon reaffirmed all of my equestrian belief in the surefootedness of burros.

[Veracohr]

Another point that troubles me with the theory that planets are growing is the lack of explanation of mountains.

With plate tectonics, there is an explanation for mountains.

With the growing of planets theory, the mountains are already present.  Why?  Wouldn't millenia of whethering erode the mountains?  Also, we know from GPS-based measurements that some mountains are still rising in elevation.

In his videos and email discussions, he gives an answer for this, one which sounds plausible if the rest were true. Imagine you have a sphere with a smooth surface, and then that sphere becomes bigger. The surface would split apart (new surfaces in the splits forming from magma, I think), and the pieces of the surface would sort of flatten out a little, since the circumference of the sphere would be bigger. If something is smooth when it is curved, then it will wrinkle a little when you flatten it out.

That's his explanation.

[Jaeda]

I meant to include this before.. but don't forget to factor into the possibilities of various "planets" (getting generic here) surfaces having been impacted by debris - like meteors and asteroids, etc. making impact... even now they are finding more and more examples of this on Earth.. so it's certainly not beyond the probable that others have encountered the same factor of being in the way of such things and getting walloped...

[Chris W]

Gravity  is the result of a planets weight  stretching the fabric of time space. The denser the planet the higher the gravitational pull.   A black hole is  a tiny dot thats super dense and heavy and it pulls in matter and keeps getting denser and denser therefore creating stronger and stronger gravitational pull.

[Chris W]

and yes  planets grow.   Meteorites land on the Earth all the time and therefore add to the mass on a regular basis.

[winder]

For a planet to increase in diameter by a factor of 2 would mean its mass has increased by a factor of 8, assuming the density is constant.  A factor of 8 is a lot.  SO 7/8's of he earth's mass is added to the original sphere and is the cause for the shifted continents?  Sketchy to me.

I have an easier time accpeting that a large meteor hit whatever was in the Earth/Moon orbital plane and fracture the single body into two bodies - the Earth and Moon.  That sort of violent collision that makes two from one could surely create some drift atop a body with a molten core.

Even the Sun has convection currents within its structure.

[gnrm23]

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articl ... 9EC588ED9F

[Jaeda]

While I find all of the theories very interesting, I guess I also like the mystery... I figure as technology advances - and provided we don't eradicate ourselves beforehand - eventually we will get to see the formation of another planet with satellites of its own that are a lot like what we know to be around us and under our feet now... and then we'll have a better idea of how our planet and moon and "stuff" came to be... and maybe manage to document it well enough that eons down the line our descendents will have no doubts about how these things come to be... of course, by then - if we don't nix ourselves - I figure we'll also be doing a lot more "common" traveling in space across the distances and collecting research data to help us to better understand.

But I remain torn between Logic and Mystery.... Logic is solid, but the Mystery seems like so much more fun.