(n): (plate tectonics) a hypothetical continent including all the landmass of the earth prior to the Triassic period when it split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland
There's that, and... are we talking about a time in the earth's history when it was a fully formed relatively spherical planet, and not still wobbly and, you know, gummy like fresh cookie dough that hadn't quite congealed?
Which reminds me of one of my favorite cartoons, a cutaway diagram of the earth with the following labels:
Crust
Mantle
Creamy Nougat Center
I think pangea, sorry, pangaea, might have had a very slight effect on the earth's rotation. Rock is heavier than water, and the pangaea-side of the earth would also have more volume than the ocean-side (since land is by definition above sea-level). So there would be an imbalance in the earth's crust. But the crust of the earth (including the land and the water) is less than 3% of the earth's total mass. So if the pangaea-side of the earth was 10% heavier than the ocean-side - which I think is a very generous estimate - that would be an absolute difference of about 0.3% of the earth's total mass, which might even get lost in the mix with movements in the mantle.
Hmm. Not sure about that. It's probably heavier than plain dirt, but I imagine there were plenty of unmined heavy metals underground. There's probably no way to calculate which would be heavier.
So I'm curious. When all the continents were together on one side of the earth, wouldn't that off-centeredness have caused the planet to rotate in a wobbly fashion? That's a lot of weight in one place. And if so, would it affect our orbit around the sun? I'm assuming not, in frictionless space. Still, makes you wonder.
There's that, and... are we talking about a time in the earth's history when it was a fully formed relatively spherical planet, and not still wobbly and, you know, gummy like fresh cookie dough that hadn't quite congealed?
Which reminds me of one of my favorite cartoons, a cutaway diagram of the earth with the following labels:
Crust
Mantle
Creamy Nougat Center
I think pangea, sorry, pangaea, might have had a very slight effect on the earth's rotation. Rock is heavier than water, and the pangaea-side of the earth would also have more volume than the ocean-side (since land is by definition above sea-level). So there would be an imbalance in the earth's crust. But the crust of the earth (including the land and the water) is less than 3% of the earth's total mass. So if the pangaea-side of the earth was 10% heavier than the ocean-side - which I think is a very generous estimate - that would be an absolute difference of about 0.3% of the earth's total mass, which might even get lost in the mix with movements in the mantle.
Also, pangaea, is the proper spelling.
Hmm. Not sure about that. It's probably heavier than plain dirt, but I imagine there were plenty of unmined heavy metals underground. There's probably no way to calculate which would be heavier.
But wouldn't the water be heavier? Just askin'.
So I'm curious. When all the continents were together on one side of the earth, wouldn't that off-centeredness have caused the planet to rotate in a wobbly fashion? That's a lot of weight in one place. And if so, would it affect our orbit around the sun? I'm assuming not, in frictionless space. Still, makes you wonder.