[Steelycascade95]

Okay seriously.
1st of all, the continents formed due to weakness in the crust created by scalding hot magma in the mantle escaping and hitting the ocean.
2nd of all, obviously if the moon hit earth we would not be here. Mainly because all life on the planet would've been wiped out along with earth itself, or at least a good portion of it.
3rd of all, wouldn't the moon be destroyed by even just one collision?
4th of all, the moon is held into place orbiting the earth, not hurling itself into it! The only thing that could change that is a sudden change in the gravity balance in the solar system, say if a rouge star or a black hole entered the system.
Just a facepalm moment.

[MoonDragn]

Holy crap, you're kidding right? You can't possibly believe this is true. What do you think the moon is made of? Cheese? How would you stop the two bodies from breaking apart into a million pieces when they crashed into each other? Do you think the Moon is made of a giant rubber stamp?

There is absolutely 0 chance of what you claim is true to be true at all. None. It would break a lot of laws in physics.

[evan_au]

Magnetic dipole fields (which dominate the Earth's magnetic field at present) get rapidly weaker with distance, so it is quite weak at the distance of the Moon. The Moon's magnetic field is much weaker than the Earth's.

In addition, the Moon's magnetic field is very localised, rather than a dipole field like the Earth, so it decays even more rapidly with distance than the Earth's magnetic field. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_field_of_the_Moon

I don't see how these fairly weak magnetic fields could interact to toss around something the size of the moon.

[Missynmax83]

I'm not anyone special ok I just look , but reading this everyone is say why isn't the moon just crashing , well the first thing I though of is what's the water going to do sins tides happen coz of the moon , so what wood the water do , what if the moon was so close and at a slow speed that the water wood have time to be pulled to it building up at the point of impact , been held together by both the earth and moons gravity like a in brake able water baloon, wouldn't the water keep the sufice crust cool to no brake up coz the water wouldn't be pushed away .now it mite not do that and the moon mite just crach and die but wood think that would be the case if the impact was quick witch it wouldn't ..:: just my thoughts like I sed I'm no one special just look and read so please be nice

[Missynmax83]

Aaa second about the moon being bigger . Well I don't think that can be the case but if the surfuce was cooled with water and press to together it mite flared out witch mite make reason to the larger size , just like pressing 2 balls together .and with the water being pulled to the moon wouldn't that make it a soft impact ...
Wouldn't it explan finding sea shells in the highest areas of earth and traces of water on the moon..... I mite have no idea but what happeneds if it did that's all

[alancalverd]

So once every few zillion years the laws of physics are set aside? Come on, this is astronomy, not climate "science".

[SimpleEngineer]

I thought the moon was looking a little bigger last night.. and when i woke up this morning... I found a giant rubber stamped reconstruction of MO in my back garden.. I was proper shocked..

It was even inverse, with the ridges being dips and mountains where MO has canyons... scary stuff eh?

it even left my house standing and caused no more nuisance than a buzzing fly.

[Missynmax83]

Ok like I sed I'm no one but like I sed what's the water going to do .its not climate it's liquid mass being held together by 2 gravity body pulling from an up , down and with a stronge centre , like I sed a unbrakble water balloon .if there was water alway cooling the surface at impact wouldn't that mean every time the crust broke it would move a bit but then cool and harden .it would be like a jigsaw puzzle slowly being spread apart . Law of physic is everything yes now what if the moon was formed just like most rounded shape planets and stars ,by spinning .and sins the moon is perfectly round I first would think this than earth braking of the earth and not be fun shaped . Now why isn't still spinning , I would think if  any size mass hit the moon to make it no spinning it still wouldn't be perfect line with earth .so wouldn't it have to hit earth to be perfectly line with earth......., now I first to think u guys r right and no I don't think nasa got hiden plot but I look at moon truth pic and it wasn't the big things but all the little thinks around it started to fit ,that's why I think he mite be on to something

[RD]

... the water wood have time to be pulled to it building up at the point of impact , been held together by both the earth and moons gravity like a in brake able water baloon

The depth of the ocean is trivial compared with the diameter of Earth ...


http://www.planetaryvisions.com/Project.php?pid=2403

so the presence of water on Earth wouldn't make any difference to such a [hypothetical]  collision.

Earth's interior is still largely fluid, if the moon collided with Earth the two bodies would coalesce a bit like two water droplets : Earth would go egg-shaped as the moon approached,   ( so not like Planet-Pool in Red Dwarf :¬)

[Missynmax83]

Yer but talking about all water being moved to around 1 point on earth and that not including an gas or solid pulled by the moo or moved by the water .it don't have to be neat .and I'm shore there also wood be boiling of the water making massive stream presser pushing out .earth mite look like an orange throwen at a wall .wouldnt 2 large masses act muddy when hitting and going by that if u drive a car in to very muddy areas u will sink but if u are using catapillar wheels the weigh u can have is unreal .it don't have to be for a long time , just long anuf to bounce of

[bizerl]

Ahhh, I missed this fruity thread. So entertaining!

I think the problem is that when dealing with the mass of the Earth, the total mass of water is such a small percentage of it that it really wouldn't do anything, even if it was all bunched up on one side of the Earth.

But lets entertain this idea that somehow water is cushioning the blow, the "stamping" effect of Mare Orientale that was proposed by MOON TRUTH seems to rely on the fact that the blow is not cushioned.

Even if the two masses act "muddy", they're not going to bounce off eachother.

[Missynmax83]

They will hit of course but what if there is a layer of water with nowhere to go coz the gravity of both pulls it to one point , wouldn't it be like black ice on a road . Plus after the moon stopped making super tides and started clumping water at the equator wouldn't it cool the equator to make it more thicker , plus add that water is going to get much cooler as it get higher wouldnt the water start to act like water in a slushy machine .plus what about any extra pressers the dense water would do to a single point over and over again

[Missynmax83]

When I'm talking about muddy I'm talking under the hard crust witch is acting like catapillar wheels .isnt a arch ,ball or circle the strongest shape .so if the surface was just thick unuf could it hold out long unuf for the shockwave to come back and help force a bounce like a rubber ball

[Kryptid]

I would like to add the issue of scaling laws to this discussion. The larger something becomes, the more its strength-to-weight ratio decreases. Let's say you have a beam of steel that is 1 meter in length. You then scale this beam up so that it is twice as long, twice as wide and twice as thick (therefore retaining the same proportions). The strength has not been increased two-fold, but four-fold (it increases with the square of the length increase). This may sound like a good thing, but the weight has increased eight-fold (it increases with the cube of the length increase). This means that the strength-to-weight ratio of the beam has been cut in half by doubling its length. Even if a sufficient repulsive force could be generated between the Earth and the Moon upon a collision, they both lack the structural strength to retain their shape under such immense force. This is especially true since a large amount of their composition is warm and soft (or even hot and liquid, in the case of the Earth). Their surface is composed of a relatively thin layer of brittle stone and minerals, which have a much lower strength-to-weight ratio than steel of the same shape and volume (not that it could survive even if it was made of steel).

[Ethos_]

Ahhh, I missed this fruity thread. So entertaining!

I suspect that the reason it's entertaining is a result of the diversion from reality it creates. Kind of like watching SpongeBob Square Pants. But I gave up cartoons many, many years ago.

[Kryptid]

MOON TRUTH, it would probably make you more credible if you were actually willing to address the specific objections that have been raised against your proposal. You are willing to debate, right? Let's see you hold to your own word and debate against our points. Here are some of the issues that have been raised that you have not yet addressed:

(1) How can the magnetic fields of the Earth and Moon be strong enough to force them apart once they have collided? Keep in mind that the magnetic field strength of the Earth is comparable to that of a strong refrigerator magnet. How do you rationalize that as being strong enough to push two celestial bodies apart? This is even more problematic since you propose that the Moon is much larger than the currently accepted measure.

(2) How do you propose that the Earth and the Moon are structurally strong enough to hold together during the impact? The forces generated would be truly immense.

(3) How do you get rid of the excess orbital angular momentum that the Moon has so that it will be able to collide with the Earth?

(4) Why hasn't complex life been wiped out by the multiple impacts? Surely the immense heat, shockwaves, tsunamis, earthquakes and subsequent "impact winter" would have killed the vast majority of living things (including humans). If a mere 6-mile long asteroid impact killed the dinosaurs, then how could the much larger Moon leave so many things alive?

(5) I'm glad that a way to measure the distance from the Earth to the Moon has been brought up, as this also allows us to estimate the diameter of the Moon. The angular diameter of the Moon (the size that it "looks" from our point of view) is about 0.5 degrees. This is something that can be measured by an average Joe, so no NASA conspiracies for that value. If we know the distance to the Moon, we can use this information to help us estimate the diameter. The given estimate derived by calculation in the link posted earlier, the distance is 247,000 miles. You can use this calculator to arrive at the diameter. Don't forget to convert between SI and metric: http://rechneronline.de/sehwinkel/angular-diameter.php When you plug in the numbers, you get ~2,155 miles. This is in close agreement with the number NASA gives us (~2,170 miles). So here you have a confirmation of the Moon's diameter using techniques available to the masses. How then, do you reconcile this with your claim that the Moon is four times larger than what NASA says?

You say you are willing to debate, so let's hear some answers.

[Missynmax83]

I'll just say I'm am a joe blow person but this is how I'm swing it in my head.all I'm trying to say if the surfaces could hold out just for 1 moment couldn't it just maybe happen .just say the moon used to spin witch to me seem more likely coz it go more with how planets and stars formed.so if two spinning masses hit the motion isn't flat, its like skipping of each other ,with all things iv sed couldn't maybe they hold out long unuf for the 2 surfaces to roll the weight to different parts intill they start pulling away and move away

[Missynmax83]

I do think most life would die but life show over and over again its hard to kill and if to where at the poles u most have the best chances..... Now the speed the moon would fall could be slow  ,now compared that to the earth spinning and maybe the moon to ,it would be like spinning to balls very very fast and slowly push them together . They only just touch sometime not even that but that one is to do with the air 

[Missynmax83]

Now someone said about braking the laws of physics well don't the laws of physics say when u spin around u with be pushed out not in like gravity does , now what if u have a gravity so close and pulling the other way that maybe the laws of physics of motion gets stronger and come into play and give extre strength to the surfaces of the moon and earth.changing the weight and pressers of both .like I sed it didn't need to be neat .i get the earth going egg shaped but in my head that would most likely be if the faces of the moon and earth where at the same point all the time .not a hump rolling round the earth with super cool water cooling the surface trying to hold back all this presser witch at impact is the reo to the surface like steel to cement .plus with that much cooling going on wouldn't the air temp drop  massively .

[Kryptid]

I'll just say I'm am a joe blow person but this is how I'm swing it in my head.all I'm trying to say if the surfaces could hold out just for 1 moment couldn't it just maybe happen .just say the moon used to spin witch to me seem more likely coz it go more with how planets and stars formed.so if two spinning masses hit the motion isn't flat, its like skipping of each other ,with all things iv sed couldn't maybe they hold out long unuf for the 2 surfaces to roll the weight to different parts intill they start pulling away and move away

They can't hold out. Not even for a moment. Actually, trying to minimize the time for which the two objects are in physical contact with each other would require increasing the forces which act between them. The higher the forces, the more damage done to each celestial body.

Consider this: the asteroid which created the Chicxulub crater (the one commonly credited with killing the dinosaurs) has been estimated at around 9-10 kilometers in length. The depth of the crater is around 10 kilometers. The thickness of the Earth's crust ranges from 5 to 50 kilometers (oceanic crust tends to be thinner and continental crust thicker). So here we have an object a mere 10 kilometers in length capable of generating sufficient force to pierce the Earth's crust in some places. Now imagine replacing this 10 kilometer asteroid with an object the size of the Moon (near 3,500 kilometers in diameter). That's a near 350-fold increase in diameter. The differences in their volume and mass would be much greater than that (scaling laws based on a 350-fold increase in diameter indicate that the Moon is ~40 million times more massive than the asteroid, although this will vary slightly depending on differences in density and shape). Nonetheless, it should be abundantly obvious the the Earth's crust would be shattered into oblivion if the Moon struck it.

I do think most life would die but life show over and over again its hard to kill and if to where at the poles u most have the best chances..... Now the speed the moon would fall could be slow  ,now compared that to the earth spinning and maybe the moon to ,it would be like spinning to balls very very fast and slowly push them together . They only just touch sometime not even that but that one is to do with the air

The only life that could conceivably survive such an impact would be microbes (most likely those buried deep into the Earth's crust on the side of the planet opposite the impact site). If life had to restart, it would need to restart from microbes. By the way, it took about 2 billion years for single cells to evolve into something as simple as sponges. So after the Moon struck, it would take over 2 billion years before complex life could come back.

As far as to liken the Earth to a ball that is spinning "very very fast", I would have to disagree. Imagine holding a basketball on your finger tip and that it is rotating at the same rate that the Earth is. That would be 1 revolution every 24 hours. That would most likely be much too slow to even be seen with the naked eye. For all intents and purposes, we could consider it to not be spinning at all during the impact. It certainly wouldn't be fast enough to have any noticeable effect.

Now someone said about braking the laws of physics well don't the laws of physics say when u spin around u with be pushed out not in like gravity does , now what if u have a gravity so close and pulling the other way that maybe the laws of physics of motion gets stronger and come into play and give extre strength to the surfaces of the moon and earth.changing the weight and pressers of both .like I sed it didn't need to be neat .i get the earth going egg shaped but in my head that would most likely be if the faces of the moon and earth where at the same point all the time .not a hump rolling round the earth with super cool water cooling the surface trying to hold back all this presser witch at impact is the reo to the surface like steel to cement .plus with that much cooling going on wouldn't the air temp drop  massively .

I find it difficult to understand quite what you're getting at here, but I've already address the two key issues you seem to be bringing up: (1) The Earth's crust isn't nearly strong enough to protect it during an impact with the Moon and (2) The Earth doesn't spin fast enough to make any difference in such an impact.