Earth's elements

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Are we reproducing minerals (like growing tree....renewable) or are we using the only supply?

Like, as in, we burn a drum of petroleum it may not be replenished soon. But what about metals and ores, fertilizers, chemicals-and other such stuff.

Like my canned goods. Do we just have to keep mining deeper into the Earth to get more (since we have probably taken most of the topsoil/low hanging fruit)?

Thanks
 
Is this real?

If it is, the explanation is beyond your scope of knowledge.

The answer, in case you still want it: No, we are not producing minerals.
 
Minerals are so abundant. It's like oil and trees, the easy to get supplies are first ravaged.

As time goes on, recycling, and more efficient extraction of harder to get reserves, in a free market, will go on indefinitely.

If a source of raw product gets so expensive/rarity, then another means will replace it, thanks to modern industry.

The planet will not run out of minerals, minerals is like water. Extraction of said minerals will however become more difficult, and alternatives have been found.
 
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I hope that your location is not actually where you live. I would not put anything that specific like i-55 and i-20 on a forum.
 
Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Minerals are so abundant. It's like oil and trees, the easy to get supplies are first ravaged.

As time goes on, recycling, and more efficient extraction of harder to get reserves, in a free market, will go on indefinitely.

If a source of raw product gets so expensive/rarity, then another means will replace it, thanks to modern industry.

The planet will not run out of minerals, minerals is like water. Extraction of said minerals will however become more difficult, and alternatives have been found.


+1
 
Originally Posted By: Phishin
Is this real?

If it is, the explanation is beyond your scope of knowledge.

The answer, in case you still want it: No, we are not producing minerals.



Dude, is the planet making more resources? I am not talking about alchemy.
 
While we are at it?

Did you know the Earth is alive? I think volcanoes erupting proves this, as well as dropping a seed in the soil and reaping a harvest.

Just wondering about geology. Like how far have we dug into the earth? I think the radius(surface to inner core) is about 2400-3000 miles
 
Everything heavier than hydrogen on this planet has once been forged in a star, before acreting itself here.

Fossil fuels took millions upon millions of year to form, still are forming, we just don't have any concept of the rate.

It's therefore virtually limitless, but to our purposes finite.
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Dude, is the planet making more resources?

That's why there are renewable and nonrenewable resource categories. Anything that is an element is being neither created nor destroyed, outside of a nuclear reaction. That's the short answer.
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Originally Posted By: Bandito440
I have a good alchemist who's been making gold for years.



Is 'he' a goblin?


I went to an Irish Fest yesterday....I saw HIM!!! He is real.
 
The earths core is molten and at the point where Marianna's trench is located is where two plates meet and one slides under the other and recycles itself. At the other end the plates are born.

So yes in a way the earth renews itself and at some point in a geological sense elements that were part of the molten core come back and can possibly be mined.
However as already mentioned it may not be cost effective to chase various mineral deposits so either the tech it's required for changes,or it dies.
We have the ability to recycle so once mined it can be used many times over however in a real sense everything the earth has is already here. Nothing new is being made. It's all here.
What state it's in and where it's at is another matter
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Originally Posted By: Phishin
Is this real?

If it is, the explanation is beyond your scope of knowledge.

The answer, in case you still want it: No, we are not producing minerals.



Dude, is the planet making more resources? I am not talking about alchemy.


Fertilizer is a resource, and the amount of it is ever increasing.
crackmeup2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: BRZED
Fertilizer is a resource, and the amount of it is ever increasing.
crackmeup2.gif



crackmeup2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
The earths core is molten and at the point where Marianna's trench is located is where two plates meet and one slides under the other and recycles itself. At the other end the plates are born.

So yes in a way the earth renews itself and at some point in a geological sense elements that were part of the molten core come back and can possibly be mined.
However as already mentioned it may not be cost effective to chase various mineral deposits so either the tech it's required for changes,or it dies.
We have the ability to recycle so once mined it can be used many times over however in a real sense everything the earth has is already here. Nothing new is being made. It's all here.
What state it's in and where it's at is another matter


confused2.gif


crazy2.gif


21.gif
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Are we reproducing minerals (like growing tree....renewable) or are we using the only supply?

Like, as in, we burn a drum of petroleum it may not be replenished soon. But what about metals and ores, fertilizers, chemicals-and other such stuff.

Like my canned goods. Do we just have to keep mining deeper into the Earth to get more (since we have probably taken most of the topsoil/low hanging fruit)?

Thanks

Overall, the total amount of any element -- iron, nickel, tin, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, etc. -- is constant. What changes is the form that element is in.

As we mine more tin and make more cans, that tin hasn't left the earth -- but less of it is in ore and more of it is in the alloys that make up food cans.

Same thing with your petroleum example. The carbon and hydrogen that made up the petroleum are still around, except they're now locked up in carbon dioxide and water.

It's easy to extract tin from ore. It's not as easy to extract tin from food cans. Likewise, it's easy to make fuel and lubricants from petroleum, but MUCH harder (e.g. more energy-intensive) to get the same stuff from carbon dioxide and water.

A similar thing happens with water. When you pump it out of the ground to use it, eventually it returns to the environment. The problem is that it doesn't all go back where it came from. It takes a long time for water to cycle back into the water table, so if you pump it out too fast, you can still run out of easily usable water.

That's what "resource depletion" is all about. The elements are still there. They're just not in an easily usable form any more.

Hope that helps.
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Are we reproducing minerals (like growing tree....renewable) or are we using the only supply?


We can create many synthetic minerals, but of course not out of nowhere. Many precious stones are commonly synthetically made, ie, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, saphires. Often they are made for industrial use but also as jewelry. Cubic zirconia is a manmade creation that does not exist in nature. So, like Archimedes was hoping, lead to gold is possible, but not out of thin air and at great cost.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Everything heavier than hydrogen on this planet has once been forged in a star, before acreting itself here.

Fossil fuels took millions upon millions of year to form, still are forming, we just don't have any concept of the rate.

It's therefore virtually limitless, but to our purposes finite.


"Nuclear synthesis", I liked that expression when I first encountered it. Wikipedia has an article on this process titled "Stellar nucleosynthesis".
 
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