Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: thedoc on 12/03/2012 09:22:02
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Isalena Iaccarino asked the Naked Scientists:
Dear Naked Scientists,
The other evening I was discussing the topic dealt with in your programme a few weeks ago, about the Moon moving away from the Earth at a rate of 2cm per year.
My eleven year pointed out that there would be no more tides once the Moon leaves our orbit altogether. What would be the other effects we would feel - or not feel given its absence - by the Moon's departure?
Thanks
Isalena
Rome, Italy
What do you think?
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There will still be some tidal effect from the Sun, but not as strong. And without the Moon we will never have a solar eclipse again.
(Answers courtesy of Dr Karl just a couple of weeks ago.)
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Will we ever lose the moon? I thought that the sun would have swallowed us up by then. And even barring that, the tides (which are effectively the drain that would cause us to lose the moon) will be eventually cause the earth to become tidally locked to the moon. If the same point of the earth and the moon faced each other all the time then the system becomes stable.
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Tides on Earth pull the moon into higher orbits. As the moon gets farther away, the tides diminish, so the rate at which the moon moves away gets slower. After about 50 billion years, the day and month would be equal, so no more tides and no more moving away from each other. However, the sun is expected to turn into a red giant and swallow the Earth and moon much sooner than 50 billion years, so the moon will never get that far from Earth.
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The tilt of the Earths axis would lose a valuable stabilising force and precession would increase