This looks nutty, but actually makes sense.
Neal Adams (famed comic book artist) has long said the Pangaea theory--this notion that all of the continents were once joined together in a "supercontinent" hanging out on one side of the planet--makes no sense. The planet would be too imbalanced if all the landmass was on one side, and the water from the other side would rush towards the land, balancing it out.
Adams' theory is that the Earth is growing, and that all of the continents were in fact connected--but in their present positions, because the planet was smaller! Check out the CG animation of what he's talking about:
If this is true, it's good news for you if you don't like your neighbors; just wait a few millenia and their house will be farther away.
Hey, who's to say the earth doesn't rest on the back of a giant tortoise (well, more like elevated from the back of a giant tortoise by way of four or five very bored giant elephants)? Seems a rather pleasant idea.
All kidding aside, I've seen a very similar 'theory' outlined in 'The Dilbert Principal' to dispel gravity. If everything in the universe is constantly expanding at an equal rate, than perhaps you aren't being pulled down when you jump into the air, but that you and the earth are both growing to meet each other in the middle...
Eh, who am I kidding, it could be pure feces tauri, but at least it was a fun little video to watch.
Nope, it's nutty - it discards the fact that new crust is constantly emerging from the sea floor. Continental drift isn't a theory, it's a proven scientific fact. Where would the extra mass come from?
This is really dumb. Some comic book author looks at a map and thinks - 'gee, that looks like it was connected, i bet it was' - then tries to come up with 'evidence'. The fact is that there would have to be some VERY powerful force causing the earth to expand contrary to the forces of gravity pulling it tighter.
Tell the Ring of Fire volcanoes that there's no subduction. Tell paleomagnetic geologists that the continents haven't moved toward and away from each other as the tectonic plates carried continents into supercontinents and then broke them up again. Totally shitferbrains. Cute cartoon but he may as well show the earth on the back of a giant tortoise.
I can't watch the video so maybe this is addressed, but I don't think so. Has the thought occured that maybe the terrain on the ocean's floor isn't totally the same everywhere (topographically). That would easily explain this 'balance' thing. I think I'll keep my science learning to actual scientists, not comic book artists.
Cool, then we won't have to worry about over-population anymore! Of course we'll have to evolve gigantic legs to overcome the increased gravity of a gigantic earth...
There is no shortage of great comic book creators and their crazy, paranoid world-views. The "growing planet" hypothesis is, I'm afraid, a widely debunked one.
Comments
All kidding aside, I've seen a very similar 'theory' outlined in 'The Dilbert Principal' to dispel gravity. If everything in the universe is constantly expanding at an equal rate, than perhaps you aren't being pulled down when you jump into the air, but that you and the earth are both growing to meet each other in the middle...
Eh, who am I kidding, it could be pure feces tauri, but at least it was a fun little video to watch.
Where did the mass and oceans go when earth was in its "collapsed" form, that's my main question.
Also, I don't see the point of the science community "hiding" from revealing this theory to be true.
Don't believe this. It's silly.
Tell the Ring of Fire volcanoes that there's no subduction. Tell paleomagnetic geologists that the continents haven't moved toward and away from each other as the tectonic plates carried continents into supercontinents and then broke them up again. Totally shitferbrains. Cute cartoon but he may as well show the earth on the back of a giant tortoise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_earth_theory