Originally Posted by Starman
Apart from taking in solar energy, does not the earth system also take in matter in the form of space dust particles?

is there not also ~ atmospheric escape?...whereby certain gases [helium and hydrogen] do get away into space?



Of course, but apparently it's not significant enough to count as an open system as far as Matter goes, yet we do have matter input from space dust, meteorites, etc, adding to the mass of the planet.