Does the Earth get heavier when a volcano erupts ?
400728
The weight could alter, but not enough to make a difference, and not from a volcano. But if you think about it, if a 10,000 ton meteor strikes the earth, it would be 10,000 tons heavier, would it not? \n\nAnd the affects of gravity actually changes the weight of an object. If you stand on a scale just normal, and weigh 160 lbs, then thats that. If you hold a 10 lb weight, and stand on the same scale, you will weigh 170 lbs.
759449
Plates are solid pieces of the Earth's crust that float and move around on top of the liquid interior of the earth.  Anyway when two plates are pushing against each other, pressure builds up until they move suddenly and you get an earthquake.  Volcano's form because the friction created when two plates rub against each other can be hot enough to melt rock.  And when that molten rock rises to the surface on plate boundaries, you get volcanos.
946669
Earthquakes 10.5 are impossibly big.  Places in America where you get earthquakes as big as 9 only happen along the coast of Alaska.  The biggest earthquake that can happen on the San Andreas is about 8.  Volcanoes in the US are only related to some faults, not all, and they are not interconnected, so one eruption is not related to nor does it cause another.\n\nHere are some basics on earthquakes/volcanism to help you with why this is physically impossible:\n\nEarthquakes: \nIt all comes down to stress and strain from the interaction of different plates, chiefly at the boundaries. It is not 'the plates rubbing together' as many people say; or at least that's a very simplistic view.\n\nPlate tectonics causes stress on the continents and oceans, all over the surface of the earth. In some places, the stress is very small (usually within the plates). Elsewhere, the stress is high, usually where the plates meet each other. Since each plate moves, when two come in contact, the stress each other. They can push on each other and cause compressional stress, they can pull with extensional stress, and they can slide past or shear each other with tensional stress.\n\nFaulting, causing earthquakes, comes from the fact that this stress is building up all the time, but rocks and continents are strong materials. Just like hitting a rock with a small hammer, you do put stress on it, but a small amount. It would take a sledgehammer to put enough strain (effects and accumulation of stress) to build up and cause breakage. In the earth, the area around an active fault builds up strain from the stress of plate tectonics. Most faults become locked, because of this strength, and thus can not release their strain. Away from the fault, the stress produces very small and slow movement of the rock masses as a whole. Eventually, the strain is too much and the rest of the plate has moved too far and the fault releases the strain build-up all at once in a big stress release called an earthquake. This is called the elastic rebound theory, and it explains most (but not all) movements.\n\nThis is why an earthquake's size is relative to the fault size. The bigger the fault, the bigger the strain build up, and the bigger the release in an earthquake. Subduction zones and collision zones, where large portions of plates actually can rub together as a whole, have the really big earthquakes, like the 2004 Sumatra earthquake. In other plate boundaries, the entire plate boundary does not act together, so the faults become spread out and many faults take up the strain from the tectonic stress, like with the San Andreas Fault in California (it only takes up ~3/4 of the stress between the plates).\n\nEarthquakes are really tricky things; there is still so much we need to learn. As of now, there is no way to predict them, but we can say where the danger is highest and about how long between events.\n\nVolcanoes:\nThere are several processes in Plate Tectonics that cause volcanism, but they result in two main types of volcanism.\n\nVolcanism in subduction is caused by volitals, like H2O, CO2. These are carried down by the plate, mainly in the form of weak minerals. These minerals break down with pressure and temperature into stronger minerals that don't contain water and carbon dioxide. The leftover gases and liquids travel into the mantle (the mantle wedge) and hydrate the mantle, causing melting. The melt rises and then... volcano!\n\nThe other main cause is from rising mantle material, which forms decompression melting. Basically, hot mantle is kept from melting by the pressure of the earth at depth. When this material rises, the pressure drops much faster than the temperature, and thus it partially melts. This mainly occurs at divergent boundaries and hot spots, which are areas in plate tectonics that have rising materials or spreading.
1095641
Think of the Earth as a big blue marble. Got it? Ok. Now, think of a layer of bubble wrap around the marble. That would be the air we breathe, or the troposhpere. It is air, so it doesn't weigh much, but it does weigh something. Now think of another layer of bubble wrap on top of the first. That would be the stratosphere. Then another layer, which is the mesosphere, and then another layer, the thermosphere. Now you've got four layers of bubble wrap, on top of each other. Each one is PRESSing down on the ones beneath it, causing PRESSURE. Hope that helps.
305725
Yes, the seismic activity that causes one can also cause the other.  When the Earth's techtonic plates shift but experience some resistance, they shake, jump, rattle the area around that resistance.  Sometimes a crack in the Earth's crust is created or widened which creates the eventual environment for a volcano.  Othertimes volcanoes are created over a hot spot (thin crust) in the Earth's crust, like the Hawaiian islands.  This is somewhat different, although some tremors can be felt.
573358
many things can happen when a volcano erupt. it depends on the kind of eruption of volcano.\n\nMagma contains dissolved toxic gases (sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, etc...) that are released into the atmosphere during eruptions. Volcanic gases affect people, animals and agriculture: SO2 irritates skin and the tissues and mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, and throat... sometimes CO2 may become concentrated at levels lethal to people and animals.\n\nEruptions may trigger lahars (a hot or cold mixture of water and rock fragments flowing down the slopes of a volcano) directly by quickly melting snow and ice on a volcano or ejecting water from a crater lake.\n\nIn volcanoes with massive cones landslides may be generated.\n\nVolcanoes erupt lava and everything in the path of an advancing lava flow will be knocked over, surrounded, or buried by lava, or ignited by the extremely hot temperature of lava.\n\nWhen a volcano make an explosive eruption, pyroclastic flows can be generated. Pyroclastic flows are high-density mixtures of hot, dry rock fragments and hot gases that move away from the vent that erupted them at high speeds.
1069004
For the most part, the atmosphere moves along with the surface of the earth. On the other hand, winds going in any direction tend to grind down mountain peaks.\n\nHowever, if the Earth were not fairly close to round, then the molten lava inside the earth would rupture the crust and deform the earth into a round shape. The main reason the Earth is round is gravity, not wind.
754982
The moon is geologically inert. It is believed that the last lunar volcano erupted several million years ago (perhaps more than a billion years ago though there is some debate). There would be NO effect on the earth whatsoever as lunar volcanism was less energetic it is unlikely that anything spewed out would escape lunar gravity and reach Earth.\n\nOn the other hand, asteroid IMPACTS on the moon CAN be energetic enough to throw debris towards the Earth, and some meteorites found on the Earth are believed to be of lunar origin.
738049
b) changes\n\nwhen a plate moves it can do a number of things. it can make a mountain, volcano, island, etc.\n\nit doesnt collapse (stupid answer), it wont melt (why would it? all thats happening is a plate moving, that wouldnt melt earth) and it doesnt shrink just because it moves.
1069387
Yes, they would weigh a little more at the poles.\n\nThe Earth is not exactly spherical but rather is a little bit like a "squashed" sphere, with the radius at the equator slightly larger than the radius at the poles (this shape can be explained by the effect of centripetal acceleration on the material that makes up the Earth, exactly as described above). This has the effect of slightly increasing your weight at the poles (since you are close to the centre of the Earth and the gravitational force depends on distance) and slightly decreasing it at the equator.
1089411
You think we are seeing lots of volcanic activity NOW?\n\nRent a copy of Walt Disney's "Fantasia" and watch the part about the early ages of the Earth.\n\nFor millions of years, all this planet DID was erupt.\n\nOf course, your question is tied more to relatively recent times.  The planet seems to pass through periods of greater and lesser volcanic activity.  Much of it is stimulated by movement of the great "tectonic plates" on which our globe is formed.  These are huge chunks of the Earth's crust that slide and bump into one another.  They "float" on top of the more liquid, or molten, components of the Earth's core.\n\nVulcanologists, or specialists in volcanoes, can answer your question with greater precision.  In general, there has been an apparent increase in volcanic activity over the past 40-50 years.  That's how long I've been paying attention, anyhow.  But some of this appearance of activity is a product of remembering volcanic events - a few this year, another one or two some years later, and so on.  Most what I have noticed is that volcanic activity seems to have moved around the world.  Where one volcano goes ka-boom, or squirts out some lava for a time and then goes quiet, later there's a new one doing the same elsewhere.  After a time, it seems there are lava flows everywhere, when in fact there are not.\n\nThe most persistent volcanic activity I can remember is in Hawaii, where for at least 20 years (or so it seems) the Big Island has slowly been growing as a result of constant lava flow.\n\nThe 1800's overall seem to have been far more active in terms of volcanic eruptions and disasters than the past 100 years.  Some of the most horrendous volcanic disasters took place in that century.\n\nWe should remember that ours is not a "quiet" planet, but an ever-active ball of dirt, water and air.  It's an interesting place, eh?
407850
If one could actually weigh the Earth, the answer would be yes because the mass has increased over the past millions years due to falling of metorites onto the Earth's surface. I forget how many metorites fall onto the Earth each day but it is in the thousands. Most burn up in the atmosphere, but the atmosphere is part of the Earth and the resulting material is added to the balance of the mass.
606827
The mass of the earth is 5,974,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg\nQuite heavy really.
457359
Yes, and not only does it affect the land, it also affects everything else comprised of atoms, which is everything-Including You!!\nDepending on which side of the earth you are on, or which side you are closest to. If you are on the moon side then  you actually wiegh less because the earth and moon are both pulling on you, but in opposite directions, thus the moon diminishes the earths gravittional pull on you if even only by a tiny amount. If you are on the side opposite the moon, then the earth and moon have a combined pull, resulting in a stronger gravitational pull on you. \nAll mass has this same affect on all other mass, however it is more evident when there are large masses involved, such as the moon.\n\nHappy full moon.
284815
The structural integridy of the plate itself prevents this. When the earth cooled down after its formation the plates were created like large crystals on the molten surface. They can slowly shift around as a result of the magma currents but to have them break would require a large catastrophic event like a meteor or the earth heating up to levels hot enough to lower their integridy. This of course would be a lethal level and would only occur if, for example, the earth got really close to the sun.\n\nThere is the remote chance that an earthquake at just the right fault line might cause just the right fracture that could move through an entire continent but the probability is very remote.
344523
Well, yeah, there is a relationship.  Most of our recent volcanoes occur near the boundaries of plates.  At mid-ocean ridges hot magma is welling up and cooling to make the plates on either side larger.  Iceland, with its many volcanoes, is on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.  Where oceanic plates are pushed under other plates (subducted), they are forced deeper into earth where it's hotter, and the subducted plate tends to melt.  The lighter parts of the melt try to work their way toward the surface (because they're less dense, and, hence buoyant), and cause volcanoes such as those of the Pacific's Ring of Fire--Indonesian volcanoes, Japanese volcanoes such as Mount Fuji, Alaska's volcanoes, the Cascade Range in Washington State, and so on.\n\nSome volcanoes are associated with "hot spots", where a plume of magma flows toward the surface, but is not associated with a plate boundary.  The Hawaiian Islands are an example of such a hot spot.  Plate tectonics also affect things here.  The plate moves over the hot spot, continually making new islands.  The newest one hasn't reached the surface yet.  Hawai'i is the newest one that's above the surface, and as you move north and west along the Hawai'ian Archipelago, the islands are progressively older and, because they've had more time to be eroded, smaller.  Northwest of the archipelago are the Emperor Seamounts, islands that were eroded until they no longer reach the ocean's surface.
942699
Like so many other things, the answer is yes and no. \n\nMercury is supposed to be, size for size, the densest of the planets. It must contain amazing amounts of metals. Because of its density, the solar tides will surely have some effect on it. Metals have properties like ductility and malleability, so that they are accustomed to deforming. I expect that the interior of Mercury will be kneaded by the tidal force of the Sun until it is comfortably molten.\n\nBut given that the surface of Mercury is so hot, it lacks one of the fearures Earth has, which allows for volcanoes-- if the pressure of molten material builds up under the surface on Mercury, it will simply ooze out through the (already softened) surface. There will be no eruption leading to a build-up of material in a cone shape.\n\nSo there could probably be lava/ molten metal flows, but not 'volcanoes'.\n\n6 NOV 06, 1840 hrs, GMT.