Monkfich t1_j9swy5k wrote on February 24, 2023 at 9:16 AM

I’ve seen estimates of an average of 100 tonnes per day of meteorites and space dust entering earth’s atmosphere every day, and if we add on avg ca 28 tonnes more per day for the satellites, it doesn’t significantly change mass.

Like the other commenters though, a range of other factors needs to be considered.

PastGround7893 t1_j9tgrnh wrote on February 24, 2023 at 1:12 PM

I don’t know much about metallic particle interaction, but I think it would be important to understand how aluminum interacts with Chlorine and copper piping/pvc piping because that’s where it will inevitably end up, making sure we understand how that affects the life span of copper piping particularly so we understand how much we affect our plans for infrastructure. It will undoubtedly shorten the life span of water infrastructure after enough enters water sources that are used for supplying homes/businesses with water. Not to mention the upkeep on the water plants before it enters main lines that will of course take more of a beating.

I don’t know the answers to that, let alone what kind of effects this has on an ecosystem, but I do know adding 28% to anything does indeed significantly change it.