MadSci Network: Astronomy
Query:

Re: Can we live on Earth without the moon?

Date: Fri May 7 08:54:56 1999
Posted By: Michael Martin-Smith, Other (pls. specify below), Family Physician, Fellow,BIS, amateur astronomer( BAA), British Interplanetary Society
Area of science: Astronomy
ID: 924470028.As
Message:

The real answer is that we would almost certainly not have evolved without the moon; experts give these main reasons

  1. The stability of the earth's rotational axis---it always remains nearly 23 degrees---is due partly to the Moon's presence; without it, the Earth's axis would wobble much more violently, so that seasons would be far more severe. [This wobble would occur over thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, but that might have been enough to affect evolution dramatically.] We could even from time to time orbit on our backs like the planet Uranus!

  2. The length of the day might have been much shorter.

  3. There would be greatly reduced ocean tides or tidal reaches so that the development of much of marine life, and certainly the development of Amphibia and the settlement of Dry Land, would have been greatly affected, perhaps prevented.

As for the present, our civilization might find it hard to adapt to a sudden withdrawal of the Moon, but could learn to cope with a slow drifting away---which is in fact occurring at a rate of about 3 cm/year.


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