Is there a finite amount of water in the world?

tadpoles_uk

Gaseous hydrogen escapes the atmosphere and goes into space. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_escape This means that the potential for total water declines with time. Admittedly, the rate of decline is extremely small compared to the amount of water on the planet. Both hydrolysis and steam reforming of hydrocarbons splits water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. Any of that hydrogen lost to the atmosphere will disappear forever. On the opposite end of the spectrum, ice meteors sometimes collide with the earth. http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/073#.UM-b8qUZfcN This adds water to the total supply on earth. Again, this is small compared to the volume that already exists. Between loss of hydrogen and gain of water via ice meteors, it's clear that the amount of water on earth fluctuates. Dec 17 12, 4:24 PM

davejacobs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite Obviously. Since the earth itself is not infinitely large, it follows that everything in it including water is also finite. Dec 18 12, 9:30 AM