Burning fossil fuels does not completely eliminate them from Earth; instead, it converts them into water, carbon dioxide, and ash. Only a small fraction of the mass of fossil fuels is released into the atmosphere as hydrogen or used in space missions. Despite the existence of roughly 1.5 trillion tonnes of fossil fuel reserves on Earth, this represents a minuscule amount compared to the overall mass of the planet. In fact, it is less than one ten-billionth of one per cent of Earth’s mass, indicating that the loss of fossil fuels would have a negligible effect on the planet’s overall weight.
To put this into perspective, losing an eyelash results in proportionally more body weight loss than burning fossil fuels does to Earth’s mass. This information highlights the insignificant impact that using all fossil fuels on Earth would have on its weight.
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