• Question: will the earth ever run out of chemical and metals

    Asked by 653eura43 to Alex, Ali, Kerry, Philip, Theo on 17 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Philip Ratcliffe

      Philip Ratcliffe answered on 17 Nov 2014:

      Not for a very very long time – in any case, the metals (and chemicals) we use are not lost and can always be recycled – the only stuff we really lose is what we send into outer space (even orbiting space stations eventually fall back to Earth)..
      I imagine that with future recycling techniques there will be no real problem.

    • Photo: Alison Thomson

      Alison Thomson answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      Probably not since everything is recycled, and atoms can’t just ‘disappear’!

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