Naked Science Forum

General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Leo Garcia on 15/12/2008 11:12:01

Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: Leo Garcia on 15/12/2008 11:12:01
Leo Garcia  asked the Naked Scientists:

Dear Naked Scientist,

If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?

Would not having the tides make our landscape dramatically different to what it is now? As for us, how would we have adapted to nocturnal life (like we have to some extent through rod photoreceptors) without a major light source? Would we rely more on senses other than sight like raccoons using touch, bats using hearing etc.?

Best wishes

Leo Garcia

What do you think?
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: RD on 15/12/2008 11:24:06
The moon stabilizes Earth's motion, without it the seasons on Earth could become unpredictable (chaotic)..

Quote
if the Moon were not present, the torque exerted on the Earth would be smaller, and the chaotic zone would then extend from nearly 0° up to about 85°. Thus, had the planet not acquired the Moon, large variations in obliquity resulting from its chaotic behaviour might have driven dramatic changes in climate. In this sense one might consider the Moon to act as a potential climate regulator for the Earth.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v361/n6413/abs/361615a0.html

The ocean tides (driven by the moon) enriched and agitated the primordial soup from which life evolved.
Perhaps life on Earth would have been slower to form, or not form at all, without the influence of the moon.
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: dentstudent on 15/12/2008 11:32:30
How about events that led up to having the moon - since the moon is a product of a collision, what would the earth be like if that collision had not happened? It is conceivable that life would not have begun....
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 15/12/2008 13:42:34
AS the moon is slowly moving away from the Earth, does that mean that seasons will gradually become more urepdictable & chaotic?
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: Don_1 on 15/12/2008 13:46:00
Andy Williams would never have sung 'Moon River', it would have just been 'River', not quite the same impact.
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: dentstudent on 15/12/2008 14:01:30
Andy Williams would never have sung 'Moon River', it would have just been 'River', not quite the same impact.
[:D]

"Blue, blue, blue, blue ......er" (Showaddywaddy)
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: lyner on 15/12/2008 14:38:06
And what would teenagers do to other teenagers out of the back of a minibus?
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: dentstudent on 15/12/2008 14:39:31
...and all you could drink in the deep south was "shine".
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: lyner on 15/12/2008 14:44:07
The extremes of tidal heights (neaps and springs), due to the Sun / Moon combination has produced conditions on the margins of the sea which would have 'encouraged' / selected the move from aquatic to land based living. There was a fantastic advantage to being able to cope with two weeks' worth of drying out and it must have accelerated that particular development.
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: LeeE on 16/12/2008 00:46:51
People, when exposing their bottoms to other people as a gesture, would have to find new verb to describe their action.
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 16/12/2008 18:02:28
People, when exposing their bottoms to other people as a gesture, would have to find new verb to describe their action.

SC already mentioned that
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: Bored chemist on 16/12/2008 18:56:40
The Unification Church members would be calied " ies".
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: RD on 16/12/2008 20:24:11
No "loonies" either, (well the word would not exist).
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: blakestyger on 16/12/2008 20:31:49
...and poaching could be difficult. [:I]
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 16/12/2008 20:33:50
Why would it affet how you cook eggs?
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: Bored chemist on 16/12/2008 20:48:44
The lunatics would be unable to take over the asylum and selenium would have to be called something else.
On a slightly more scientific note, horseshoe crabs would be in trouble.
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: blakestyger on 16/12/2008 22:04:09
Why would it affet how you cook eggs?

Is that affet as in 'affect'? (FOG)
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: turnipsock on 17/12/2008 00:42:57
If we didn't have the moon, the earth would have been pulled into the sun in 1957.
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: lyner on 17/12/2008 12:20:42
Interesting notion. Where did that idea originate. From?
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: RD on 17/12/2008 14:33:16
Without the moon how frequent would PMT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premenstrual_syndrome) be ?
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: Don_1 on 17/12/2008 15:53:12
Without the moon how frequent would PMT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premenstrual_syndrome) be ?

I shudder to think!
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: Alandriel on 19/12/2008 19:38:29
If we didn't have the moon, the earth would have been pulled into the sun in 1957.


 [:o]... and.... and... we'd never would have had the 60's.......

does not bear thinking  [V]
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 19/12/2008 23:42:56
I was FOGged by a FOG.

Good spot.
Title: If the Earth didn't have the moon, how different would things be?
Post by: erickejah on 25/12/2008 17:26:11
we would not exist because the vampires would have terminated with the human kind. [::)]