What happens if the moon disappears

Ask yourself a question: What will happen to the Earth if the moon disappears from the sky? Is it possible at all? What consequences will our planet expect? Many will recall the influence of the moon on the ebb and flow. In fact, the influence of the natural satellite of our planet is much more serious.

How did the moon appear?

According to the most popular assumptionScientists, some time after the formation of the Earth (about 4.5 billion years), a certain celestial body the size of a planet struck it tangentially. As a result of the impact, a part of the substance of this object and a part of the Earth’s mantle were thrown into near-earth orbit. As a result, the Moon was formed from the wreckage, starting to orbit in orbit with a radius of about 60,000 km.

When can the moon fall to earth?

Since its formation, the moon has annuallydrifted away from our planet. Gradually, the rate of separation increased and now stands at 3.8 centimeters per year. If so, how can the moon fall to the earth? You will not believe, but among scientists there is an opinion that such a scenario is possible. Fortunately, this will happen very soon.

See also: the moon could have been formed from the ocean of magma that once covered the earth

A couple of years ago, American planetary scientist JasonBarnes said that the moon could fall to Earth in 65 billion years. He explained his opinion by the fact that by that time the speed of rotation of the earth’s axis would be very slow. According to various estimates, this could occur in about 50 billion years, when celestial bodies will be in mutual spin-orbit resonance. As a result, the moon will not move away, but will be attracted to our planet. What is interesting, our Sun can help her in this. How exactly?

After about 5 billion years inside ourThe sun will run out of hydrogen, which is the source of energy of the stars Our star will move to a new stage of its evolution, becoming a so-called red giant. The star's luminosity will increase, the pressure inside it will increase, and the outer shell will begin to expand. The most powerful emissions from the atmosphere of the red giant can quickly change the orbit of the moon, forcing the latter to begin to slowly move toward the Earth. But, will a collision happen?

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If you think that this is a forehead collisionhead on, as in the video above, no. He will not be. When, as a result of the approach, the distance between the Moon and the Earth will be about 18,000 kilometers (the Roche limit), the tidal interaction of our planet with the satellite will tear the latter into a huge pile of debris. Some of them form a ring system around the earth. After time, the main part of the rings will begin to collapse, and the remnants will collide with the Earth.

Anyway, by this moment life on Earthwill be no longer possible. Like any other planet in the solar system. Even when the Sun turns into a red giant, the atmosphere of the star will expand so much that it can reach the present boundaries of the Earth’s orbit. Of course, before that, the two planets nearest to the Sun, Mercury and Venus, will be completely destroyed.

Let's exclude the presence of a red giant from this chain of events. How will the disappearance of the moon affect the earth in such a case?

There would be no solar and lunar eclipses.

Without the moon there would be no eclipses - there would be no object capable of at least partially closing the solar disk. You can also add that the nights will be darker.

Tidal forces will change

The moon and the sun are responsible for the ebb and flow. The reason for these processes is the heterogeneity of the gravitational field of these celestial bodies, which is expressed in the fact that in different parts of the earth different gravitational forces act on the same mass of water. The disappearance of the moon will lead to the fact that the ebb and flow will significantly weaken, since the sun will be the only celestial body that affects the world ocean.

The tidal forces of the moon have an impact on the Earth's crust. If the moon disappears, the main change will be that for several tectonic and volcanic activity will cease.

Will the axis of rotation of the Earth?

The influence of the moon on the stabilization of the axis of rotation of the Earthexaggerated. Although this influence certainly takes place. It was previously believed that if the moon had disappeared, then the axial rotation of the earth would become completely chaotic. This in particular would be expressed in an unpredictable change of seasons.

How will the disappearance of the moon affect animals?

The disappearance of the moon will also greatly affect manyanimal and plant species. First of all, the consequences will affect the same marine inhabitants, whose life cycle is somehow connected with the ebb and flow.

See also: Ancient Moon had an atmosphere

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