Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: neilep on 31/01/2008 14:08:03

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: neilep on 31/01/2008 14:08:03

Hi Peeps,

Here's Earth,

 [ Invalid Attachment ]


Nice eh ?...I hope to visit one day !...and who said it was round ?

Do you think that Earth has to have this ratio of land to sea for it's current occupants to thrive ?.....if the balance was tipped one way or another.....how would that affect the nature of Life On Earth ?

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 31/01/2008 14:14:07

If there was more water, there would be more fish.

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: neilep on 31/01/2008 17:47:19

Quote from: DoctorBeaver on 31/01/2008 14:14:07

If there was more water, there would be more fish.

....and thus more fishermen !

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 31/01/2008 18:26:07

Quote from: neilep on 31/01/2008 17:47:19

Quote from: DoctorBeaver on 31/01/2008 14:14:07

If there was more water, there would be more fish.

....and thus more fishermen !

and otters

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 31/01/2008 18:27:24

So there you have it...

more water = more fish = more otter, and otter = warmer = Global Warming! There's your answer  [:D]

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: opus on 31/01/2008 19:10:46

.....and beavers...

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 31/01/2008 21:03:51

Quote from: opus on 31/01/2008 19:10:46

.....and beavers...

  [;D]

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: neilep on 01/02/2008 00:56:49

Does this mean less sheep ?


But we do make natural flotation devices !! (pre-shearing) !!

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: opus on 01/02/2008 19:42:09

....air-baaaaands?

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: opus on 01/02/2008 19:43:20

   ............or baaaaaalast?

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 01/02/2008 21:26:46

Quote from: opus on 01/02/2008 19:42:09

....air-baaaaands?

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Fhitting%2F2.gif&hash=145489d02b30678baf42ff3e5490a9ba)

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: opus on 01/02/2008 22:19:27

stop it- you're killing me...

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: neilep on 01/02/2008 22:29:03

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Fsigns1%2F20.gif&hash=0e41482dc0c667249db96fbd47fc6644)

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: neilep on 02/02/2008 18:44:49

Quote from: neilep on 31/01/2008 14:08:03

Hi Peeps,

Here's Earth,

 [ Invalid Attachment ]


Nice eh ?...I hope to visit one day !...and who said it was round ?

Do you think that Earth has to have this ratio of land to sea for it's current occupants to thrive ?.....if the balance was tipped one way or another.....how would that affect the nature of Life On Earth ?

Erhmmmmmm.....answers sil vous plait !! ?

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: Karen W. on 02/02/2008 20:24:21

I think if there were more land and less sea we would really be lacking in many ways .. so many minerals and things we get and benefit from come from the sea. not to mention does that not also aid in our weather and parcipitational needs also. fish for food and Cod liver oil some calciums sea weeds etc that we use for different things, Kelp etc.

If it were the opposite I would imagine people who were so bloody crowded would spread out dispersing some of more crowded places on the earth etc.. open up more places for oil companies and fuel sources too. Would hope alternatives were found by then though!

I think we may loose more from the loss of the sea then we might gain from the inheritance of the land.. But that would just be my head guessing..!

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: Bass on 03/02/2008 01:06:52

Certainly life began in water.  And in ye-olde archean days (JimBob was but a wee lad) what little land was available was inhospitable to life.  Throughout geologic time, the ratio of land to water has varied, depending on tectonics and climate.  The earth has even been a giant snoball on more than one occaision!

IMHO- life adapts to the niche it is given, so the ratio land/water is probably not too significant.

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: JimBob on 05/02/2008 02:05:30

I was a lad and God was still wearing knee pants. We used to play at the shore in the tidal pools.

Yet, when the polar ice caps melt - within the next 30-50 years - sea level will rise by 100 meters. So all of the coastal cities will be underwater, harbors will be unusable and there will be a land rush as never before on earth.

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 05/02/2008 07:59:19

You'll be crying out for beavers to build dams for you!  [:D]

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: opus on 05/02/2008 19:14:57

Will it be just like 'waterworld' with Kevin Costner? Jimbob? Cool!

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: that mad man on 05/02/2008 23:44:25

I think the land to sea ratio must have changed many times in the past as it cycles from a warm age to an ice age and back. Man so far seems to have coped and evolved with those changes.

What I think will be different would be the distribution of sea water and ice. With warming the melting of the ice on land would raise the sea level and cause flooding of low lying land and most of the reclaimed land will be gone.

On the other hand with an ice age some of the water mass would be on land as ice or at the poles so the sea level should be lower.

I'm not sure but, maybe its possible that the extra mass of water distributed on land because of rising sea levels could change the earth's tilt?

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: TonyG on 20/09/2008 07:13:02

Another point that has not been considered, is the question of resources such as minerals,etc. Currently we can only economically access those on dry land, with a few exceptions, and perhaps it's just as well considering the mess we've made. 

Title: Two Thirds Sea, One Third Land, Earth's a 6 Billion Man Band !
Post by: ukmicky on 20/09/2008 13:32:15

More storms