But honestly, all this talk is more sci-fi than hard science. The question posed by the headline is more sci-fi than hard science. The text states that no asteroids even close to the size of the moon exist nearby, so it is highly unlikely that any of this would ever happen.
The text also states but honestly, all this talk is more sci-fi than hard science. The evidence from the text proves that a meteorite that big wouldn't hit the moon. The text also states that all this talk is more sci-fi than hard science. The evidence from the text proves that a big asteroid will not hit the moon. That's crazy if there was an asteroid that big to nug the moon or destroy it. That would be very tragic if a rock that big hits the earth lets just hope that doesnt happen now.
Skip to content Site Navigation The Atlantic. Popular Latest. The Atlantic Crossword. Sign In Subscribe. You might not think about it much, but the Moon exerts a tiny frictional force on the spinning Earth, causing our rotation rate to slow down over time. We might only lose a second here or there over many centuries, but it adds up over time. Our 24 hour day was only 22 hours back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and was under 10 hours a few billion years ago.
In another four million years, we won't need leap days any longer in our calendar, as the rotation rate slows and the length of a day continues to get longer.
But without a Moon, all that would cease. It would be 24 hour days every single day to come, until the Sun itself ran out of fuel and died. Gorey Harbour at low tide, illustrating the extreme difference between high and low tide found in Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user FoxyOrange. Our tides would be tiny.
High tide and low tide presents an interesting, vast difference for those of us who live near the coast, particularly if we're in a bay, sound, inlet, or other area where water pools. Our tides on Earth are primarily due to the Moon, with the Sun contributing only a small fraction of the tides we see today. During full moons and new moons, when the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned, we have spring tides: the largest differences between high and low tide possible.
When they're at right angles, during a half Moon, we have neap tides: the smallest such differences. Spring tides are twice as large as neap tides, but without our Moon, the tides would always be the same paltry size, and only a quarter as big as today's spring tides.
The obliquity of Earth's axial tilt, currently This is a very small variation compared to, say, Mars. Our axial tilt would be unstable. This is an unfortunate one. Earth spins on its axis, tilted at This is known as our obliquity. But on the Moon, it would just be pure terror. Magma from the core of the Moon would spill out, shooting large plumes of dust and material into space. Particles and smaller debris would be harmless and float around the Moon, but heftier chunks would gain enough speed to escape the velocity of the Moon and enter space.
Hopefully we would have enough time to prepare, because at this point, people would need to shelter in underground bunkers as fire rains down from above. The last time a large rock exploded in our atmosphere was in Chelyabinsk was a 19 meter Over 1, people were injured in Russia. If any fallout from the Moon was similar in size to Chelyabinsk, whole cities could be destroyed.
Some places would be only moderately damaged, while others would be completely demolished. Our dreams of continuing space exploration would be dashed. We would need the Moon as a pitstop to restock and refuel for exploring space. But because of severe damage from the comet collision, landing there would be difficult, if not impossible. At least NASA and other space agencies would become better funded.
0コメント