The Moon's Destruction?

[mmalluck]

Without a moon you would have a mass die-off of coastal plants and animals that depend on the tide to bring them food. There'd be fewer clams, barnicles, crabs and other ocean critters.

 

The oceans would be a little higher, but nothing too drastic, probably something between high and low tide.

 

Climate change is kinda hard to speculate on. If the mass of the moon was distributed in orbit around the earth, I imagine the axis wobble wouldn't be any worse than it is now.

[Ophiolite]

Without a moon you would have a mass die-off of coastal plants and animals that depend on the tide to bring them food. There'd be fewer clams' date=' barnicles, crabs and other ocean critters.

.[/quote']Remember that we would still have tides as a result of the sun. They just would not be as pronounced as at present. There would be adjustments, in some local instances resulting in major mortality, but overall not a profound effect.

The oceans would be a little higher, but nothing too drastic, probably something between high and low tide.

You've lost me here. Why would they be higher than the current average height?

If the mass of the moon was distributed in orbit around the earth, I imagine the axis wobble wouldn't be any worse than it is now.

The suppression of susbtantial axial variation is by the concentrated effects of the moon's mass. If the mass is equally distributed in orbit the net effect on the Earth is zero, so that large scale fluctuations in axial tilt become possible, indeed, inevitable.

[mmalluck]

Remember that we would still have tides as a result of the sun. They just would not be as pronounced as at present. There would be adjustments, in some local instances resulting in major mortality, but overall not a profound effect.

 

I'm curious to how much the sun contributes to the tides. Is this the right way to go about it????

 

The moon weighs 7.35 x 10^22 kg and is 384 * 10^3 km away.

The sun weighs 1.99 x 10^30 kg and is 150 x 10^6 km away.

The earth weighs 5.976 x 10^24 kilograms

 

Gravity falls of by a factor of 4 every time you double the distance between two bodies or in other words it follows x : 1/x^2 relationship.

Gravity is directly proporinal to the weight of an object (x : x). From this we get the equation:

 

(F) = (Mm)/r^2

 

The force exerted on the earth by the moon is:

(5.976 x 10^24 kg) * (7.35 x 10^22 kg) / (384 * 10^3 km)^2

or

 

2.978 * 10^36 kg^2 / Km^2

 

The force exerted on the earth by the sun is:

(5.976 x 10^24 kg) * (1.99 x 10^30 kg) /(150 x 10^6 km)^2

or

 

5.28544 * 10^38 kg^2 / Km^2

 

So the sun exerts 177 times more force on the earth (and presumable the tides) than the moon?

 

I though the moon was the major contributer to the tides.

 

You've lost me here. Why would they be higher than the current average height?

 

The moon causes a buldge of water to form on the earth due to it's gravitational pull (read:tides).

 

No moon -> smaller buldge -> more water elsewhere.

 

Again this wouldn't mean a very drastic change in ocean level.

[swansont]

Tides are due to the force differential, and so vary as r³.

[mmalluck]

If thats true than the moon contributes 2.2 times as much force to the tides as compared to the sun.

 

So with no moon, tides will crest 2.2 times lower, right?

[Janus]

If thats true than the moon contributes 2.2 times as much force to the tides as compared to the sun.

 

So with no moon' date=' tides will crest 2.2 times lower, right?[/quote']

 

Well, you have to remember that the tides vary. When the Sun and moon are aligned we get the highest high tides and the lowest low tides (spring tides). When they are at right angles to each other, we get a much smaller variation between low and high tides(neap tides). Neap tides have so little variation because the Sun and Moon actually work against each other at this time. The shifting positions of Sun and Moon in the sky also cause the times of the high and low tides to shift from day to day.

 

So if you remove the Moon, you get tides that are smaller than spring tides, but larger than neap tides. The height of tides will remain fairly constant, and occur at the same time of day every day. (high tides around noon and midnight, low tides near sunrise and sunset)

[Guest Archilla]

We could tilt like Uranus....they reckon that was coused by a moon/large asteroid falling out of orbit. And also the debris from the moon could be pulled towards the sun??? or mabey not!