Heres a geologic pondry

Since the majority of top soil around the world is made up of decayed plant and animal matter, i wonder how much overall weight the history of life on earth has added to the planet?

Nothing. We consume matter as we dispose of it. We are a zero sum equation. The only way to add to Earth's mass is to introduce outside bodies into the enclosed "bubble".

Then why do soil levels build up on top of each other? How can we not just have sand from rocks? I guess wut ur saying is that it wud all just wind up being crude? But then what? Nature doesnt consume oil pockets like we do, so what then? I get the enclosed ecosystem thing, but even aftr the worms are done theres still stuff there that striates.

Pun wrote:Then why do soil levels build up on top of each other? How can we not just have sand from rocks? I guess wut ur saying is that it wud all just wind up being crude? But then what? Nature doesnt consume oil pockets like we do, so what then? I get the enclosed ecosystem thing, but even aftr the worms are done theres still stuff there that striates.

Nope, what I am saying is that we consume matter throughout our lives. Were does that matter come from??? It is made up of molecules from the Earth itself. Yeah, we may add to the top soil, but since what we are made of came from Earth, then we cannot add anything to Earth. We just replace what we took either by death or by excretion.

Pun wrote:Since the majority of top soil around the world is made up of decayed plant and animal matter, i wonder how much overall weight the history of life on earth has added to the planet?

Interesting question. I imagine Bryant would know most about this. I wonder how much weight has been added merely due to the birth and deaths of so many billions of people? The bodies come from elsewhere...we dont take bits and pieces of earth's matter (which was already here) and make a new human (or animal). They werent here before, and then we bury them or whatever.

'Course it probably wouldnt add weight, but rather...mass to the earth's surface.

I don't think I can say much that Marc hasn't already contributed.

While you can get local build up of organic materials (ie in meadows or marshes), these organics are subject to both erosion and conversion into other compounds. The latter is perhaps the most important. Take a pine tree. It starts out as a little nut weighing no more than a few grams. As time goes on and the tree grows its mass increases dramatically. As the tree grows it is forced to generate organic compounds (both for energy and for structure). The tree is able to achieve this by taking in carbon from both the atmosphere and from the soil and convert it into a new compound. So while we are constantly contributing biomass, we're also constantly consuming it. The amount of carbon on Earth has been roughly static since formation.

I see. Rather counterintuitive but i can grasp it enough i guess to see the logic in it. Guess the sahara would be a prime example of how all that decomposed plant matter can just all be blown away through desertification.

Okay, so then. Does this mean there is a limit to the total biomass on the planet? Perhaps a ratio in relation to the total amount material is on or near the surface?

Pun wrote:I see. Rather counterintuitive but i can grasp it enough i guess to see the logic in it. Guess the sahara would be a prime example of how all that decomposed plant matter can just all be blown away through desertification.

Okay, so then. Does this mean there is a limit to the total biomass on the planet? Perhaps a ratio in relation to the total amount material is on or near the surface?

Since biomass is present in the air and in the water, the only limit is the amount of volumetric area the planet has vs acceptable conditions. Acceptable conditions can vary according to whatever life form we are talking about. We have tube worms that live in sulfuric acid in the deepest trenches of the oceans and we have fungus and bacteria that live in the ice sheets.

I kinda know you well enough to know that you know all of this. Somehow I feel these are loaded questions.

No just thinking hypothetically, trying to get a better sense of things on a grand scale. Of course i know some stuff, but always as much as others. I remember a friend of mine was playing this game unreal2 and one of the worlds was actually a planet sized/shaped organism, and everything living on it was basically the equiv to micro organisms on a body. I also wonder what supports the most biomass. Would itbe tropical rainforests or the oceans? Prob the oceans because not only of the surface area advantage, but because of the sub surface supporting life. So i guess then you would have to compare the environments in cubic yards/meters what have you. Kind of pound for pound.

Pun wrote:No just thinking hypothetically, trying to get a better sense of things on a grand scale. Of course i know some stuff, but always as much as others. I remember a friend of mine was playing this game unreal2 and one of the worlds was actually a planet sized/shaped organism, and everything living on it was basically the equiv to micro organisms on a body. I also wonder what supports the most biomass. Would itbe tropical rainforests or the oceans? Prob the oceans because not only of the surface area advantage, but because of the sub surface supporting life. So i guess then you would have to compare the environments in cubic yards/meters what have you. Kind of pound for pound.

I may be wrong, but I actually think the warm land environments, like the Amazon, hold greater biomass per cubic yard than any other place, on average. They also hold greater diversity. Yeah Oceans have lots of life, but most of their area is just empty void. Most of the life out there is actually microscopic (which may sound kinda dumb 'cause most biomass anywhere is actually microscopic). Of course when the conditions are right, you would be correct.....nothing can touch the amount of life a body of water can hold. These conditions are rarely met though. We tend to call these areas "reefs" (sorry couldn't help bein a smartass).

Thats true. I knew about the diversity part, but had never heard the biomass part actually stated. Btw i totes meant to say that i DONT always know as much as others.

Mainly, u know me, im not just thinking about this planet, but also gaining brain fodder about theoretical alien planets as well. Such as desert planets, with only roughly 1/4 - 1/3 covered with water (which scientists now believe may be the most common type of habitable planet) and what this would mean for its biomass/diversity/abundance or lack thereof. Or of a warmer wetter planet like earth in its past. Or a planet with perhaps much more water than ours. And you also have to take into consideration the overall size of planets with the proliferation of discoveries about "super-earth" size planets.

So in an investigative sense, yes they were loaded questions lol

Writing another book???

I lost track of the other one after Myspace fell apart. Did you ever finish it???

Nah been kicking around a new incarnation for a while now. Mainly in dealing with full body nano-symbiotic soldiers. Basically an entire internal organism of molecular scale machines encoded with a form of digital dna, capable of creating sythetic and semi-organic structures, with the express purpose of maximizing the hosts capabilities and survivability; both mentally and psychically, as well as psychologically. A brain interface and storage device meant that typically the hosts (in this case Cl'istan Commandos) had photographic memories, capable of uploading and downloading mission files and target information. They were also typically ambidextrous, and extremely well adjusted due to the symbiote's control and supplimentation of artificial copies of the dopamine, adrenaline, endorphine, and other brain chemicals. And with fine nano fibers copying and bypassing the rest of the nervous system, signals travelled at the speed of light rather than that of electro-chemical processes, leaving virtually no delay between thought and action. This meant faster reaction times. Muscle memory was capable of being dialed in with near mechanical precision. All bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscles were fortified with nano weaves made up of various synthetic nano materials, not only making the host stronger, and faster, but more durable. And thats before you even get to the suit, which is less of a crysis/masterchief suit, and more like a wetsuit made up of nano materials, semi flexible nano plating covering vital spots, and hardpoints for the outfitting of harnesses, vests etc.

Basically my ideas got better than the crappy old plot inwas working with. Still struggling on formulating the right one though.

been plying Crysis eh???

Well, I hope you share. Maybe a free copy after it reaches the best seller list

I really didn't think your last WIP sucked. I enjoyed it.

I dunno, so far i have this independent planet between two larger imperial powers (the Cl'istan and Yabrosee Empires) who are in sort of a cold war scenario, the planet's (Relawia) independence being a part of the uneasy relationship they share. Both with large populations of settlers planetside, who sometimes come into conflict with each other where lands of opposing settlers are in proximity to one another. Kind of see the planet as a black ops playground for the two larger jockeying powers. From there i just have to come up with a compelling story for this team of commandos to be deployed in country. Thinking of a comms black out zone as their reason for investigating.

Cuz it cant be just all rambo, destroying everything you see, i have to have some human drama and a choice. Im thinking that within this black zone (set up by Yabrosee special forces, Yabrosee settlers are clearing the area of Cl'istan villages, with the aid of those clandestine special forces. So im hapfway there i just have to figure out the cause for their engaging the enemy rather simply doing recon, exiting the area and reporting back. And then i have to figure out how all the action is going to play out.

Or should i say an electronic surveillance black zone

Sounds like a read that I would be interested in. I wish I had the gift of creative writing. All I do is technical stuff. That is about as dry and uninteresting as it gets.

Marconius wrote:been plying Crysis eh???

No, i played crysis 2 a while back, sort of a letdown. But i wanted to take the concept of having the symbiotic relationship being between the host and the internal bio-nano aspect, rather than a suit. My suit is much more of a streamline body armor (rather than a clunky spartan or gorilla looking crysis) suit. And rather than a blurry looking aquaman for active camouflage i came up with the hex cam system made up of a hexagon pattern, which thanks to a nano processor, depicts a rolling and scrolling hexagonal camouflage pattern in real time, based on the natural color patterns surrounding it and the movements of the wearer. Anyway, the commandos are more than human with or without their body armor, which did also lend some extra strength and abilities to what they already possessed internally, but not by a great amount. My idea is that the nanobiotes would add approx 60% to the hosts body weight, and grant approx 40% more strength speed and endurance, and perhaps another 10-20% comes from the suit itself.

Oh and its all powered by the hosts body heat and the nervous systems electrical output.