Let's do a simple mental exercise before we get to the point.  Visualize a sphere of solid matter, and then subtract fourteen hundredths of one percent.  Is the reduced sphere at all different in appearance?  Of course not; shaving off the 14 hundredths evenly will be unnoticeable to the naked eye.  On to the point. The sphere we just visualized is a replica of our entire solar system compacted into a solid mass.  Ninety-nine point eight six percent of the total mass of the solar system is the sun itself.  What remains is the total mass material that orbits the sun.  These 14 hundredths are composed of planets, moons, asteroids, and meteors.  Our planet accounts for a barely discernible speck of this other-than-solar matter. This barely discernible speck is surrounded by a flimsy envelope of atmosphere that supports life on the planet and accounts for the ever changing climate on the...(Read Full Post)