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Who or what started Earth Day?

What would the effect be if the moon started to move away from the earth rate of 6" a day?

  • this question is a what if say a large asteroid or comet made of solid material struck the moon instead of earth we all know the dinosaur theory but what if the moon were struck hard enough to alter its orbit by 6 inches a day say over an indefinate period of time at what point would we start to see significant impact on earth processes

  • Answer:

    Well, first, your situation is physically impossible - even if something big slammed into the Moon, the effect on the orbit would be immediate, the orbit would change in an instant, then stay that way till it got hit again. But ignoring that minor detail.... Actually, the Moon is moving away from Earth, albeit more slowly than in your question - only about 3.8 cm per year. So the Moon was once much closer to Earth than it is now. Consequences: tides become weaker, eventually we won't have any more total solar eclipses. Also, the same force that is causing the Moon to gradually move away from us also is causing our rotation to slow down. Geologists calculate that when Earth first formed, the day was only between 5 and 6 hours long. So our days are getting longer! By the way, the Moon won't move away from us forever. Once an Earth day is as long as a lunar month (the time it takes the Moon to orbit Earth) the Moon will stop moving farther away. Actually, billions of years before this happens the Sun will self-destruct, so it doesn't really matter!

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Nice Q. There will be no tides on earth ,the rotation of the earth will be greatly affected.So ,there will change in time zones too,everyday night will be pitch dark and some plants too die (may be).I know upto this only...sorry!

MaxMetallica

No Tidal Waves. Nothing life threatening except For moon worshipers.

Mike

In a way the Moon is already moving away at 4,800 miles every day, at least for a few days each month. The Moon's orbit is elliptical with it's apogee being about 68,000 miles farther away than its perigee, so the Moon is moving away from Earth an average of about 4,800 miles a day for two weeks out of every month, followed by moving closer by 4,800 miles a day for the other two weeks of the month. Did you notice that before? No? It takes careful measurement to even detect. So at 6 inches a day it would take almost 2 million years to move as much farther away as it does in those 2 weeks (do the math if you don't believe me). Another 6 inches a day that does not get canceled out every 2 weeks would go totally unnoticed for many millions of years.

campbelp2002

Yes there would be a noticeable affect... Your great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandchildren might be the first to notice anything...

Common Sense

to add on to what kris said, i listened to the scuptic's guide to the universe and they also said that the moon is moving away fromn the earth, what they also said was that eventually the moon and the erath would rotate around each other (like a binary star system does) and what this will cause is that one side of the earth will never see the moon..

hadez2000

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