Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: thedoc on 29/06/2016 11:50:01
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Loot. Van tonder asked the Naked Scientists:
Hi there...
I would like to know the moon orbiting around the earth, the same side facing the earth and earth's gravity greater than the moon how did the moon get it's pockmarks from the side facing earth...
What do you think?
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I would think because there's still more than enough room between the earth and the moon for things to still smash directly into it without paying much mind to the Earth at all...
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Very good question.
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Very good question.
I will say it was quite a creative one wasn't it! Not one I've ever thought of or heard before and it was interesting to ponder!
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The Moon was not always tidally locked to Earth, i.e. it did previously rotate more than once each orbit.
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The Moon was not always tidally locked to Earth, i.e. it did previously rotate more than once each orbit.
But aren't many of the craters formed from a time beyond that period?
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how did the moon get it's pockmarks from the side facing earth?
Objects moving in the Solar System do not travel in straight lines - they travel in curves, and the shape of these curves is dependent on the velocity and position of the meteorite, and the gravitational attraction of the Moon, Earth and Sun.
So objects that might have missed the Moon entirely will be bent around by Earth's gravity, to land on the point on the Moon directly under the Earth.
Note that although the moon is tidally locked to the Earth, it still wobbles a bit forwards and backwards, under the influence of the Moon's elliptical orbit.
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Craters cause by curved impactors should not be circular. In fact not all craters may be caused by impacts. Most crater shapes could have been caused by plasma discharge currents! Experiments have produced a truly flat-bottomed, circular or hexagonal crater, with steep terraced sides, and often a central peak simply by applying a high enough negative potential above a positive 'ground' substrate.
Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) is an engineering tool for cutting holes in thick metal sheets. This simple phenomenon of twisting Birkeland currents is ideal for eroding and ejecting material. I created a Wiki-How page a few years ago to demonstrate the possibility for garage experiments. It has been wrecked by well-meaners. Here's the link if you want to watch the video anyway "..wikihowdotcom/Etch-Your-Own-Crater?".
I know this flies in the face of 'accepted' astronomical beliefs, but the evidence is there for us on every rocky body in the solar system. What is stopping bodies in space from possessing a significantly different potential from their co-orbiters? They are all immersed in a low density plasma, which extends out from the sun. We all know what that means - double layer 'insulated zones'. Maybe time to go back to real science and think of alternatives, with experiments as the basis?
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In fact not all craters may be caused by impacts. Most crater shapes could have been caused by plasma discharge currents!
I have no idea what you're talking about here. But I'm pretty sure most crater shapes were caused by impacts. Scratch that. Positive actually.
Facts Matter™
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Asteroids and the occasional comet, crashing into it at great speeds of impact releasing a colossal amount of energy in the process
I do not think that there has ever been any volcanic activity from inside of the moon
Alan
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...I do not think that there has ever been any volcanic activity from inside of the moon ...
The maria (seas) on the moon are lava fields created by volcanism ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/10/recent-volcanic-eruptions-moon
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...I do not think that there has ever been any volcanic activity from inside of the moon ...
The maria (seas) on the moon are lava fields created by volcanism ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_mare
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/10/recent-volcanic-eruptions-moon
That is correct. Thanks for supplying the links.