With the release of the film "Oblivion", many asked the question: what will happen if the Earth's Moon is destroyed? “I don’t know,” many answered themselves. "What happens when the moon is destroyed?" Let's not guess whether the chicken crossed the road or not, but just try to answer this question.
The first thing that comes to minds of scientists - in what way will the Moon be destroyed? If, for example, the Death Star is nevertheless built and it randomly breaks the Moon into pieces, they will fly in the same orbit, and therefore exert the same gravitational influence on the Earth. There will be few changes. This is not a black hole in the solar system.
Yes, we would no longer observe lunar phases at night, but we would see a sparkling cloud of debris that would probably be much brighter than the full moon, since the surface area that reflects light would be larger. There are even some astronomers who hate this new interference in the night sky in advance.
But if the Moon were completely stolen (or sold, as was the case with Heinlein), gravity would change significantly. The ebb and flow schedule could be thrown away.
Oceanic tides will happen, but the water will follow the sun, so day after day you may see big waves all over the place. Some fishermen would appreciate it.
As tidal forces affect the Earth's core as well, there will probably be some turmoil inside. Earthquakes. Several severe volcanic eruptions. Something like that. But California, Japan and Crimea will not go under water.
However, in the long term, the problem will worsen. Now the Earth's axis of rotation slowly sways every 26,000 years, like a whirligig, as it senses the Sun's gravitational rope. Due to the wobble, Polaris does not always point exactly north. Experts agree that the Moon is a kind of shock absorber for this oscillation, preventing it from loosening completely.
It is possible that without the Moon, the Earth will wobble wildly, like Mars, for example. The fluctuation of the Red Planet is so extreme that, possibly because of this, the climate is changing on it. If the same happens on Earth, the blue planet can become a real monster and slightly give up its positions for rainbow habitation.
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Without the Moon, the tilt of the earth's axis can change - from the current 22-25 degrees to an angle from zero to 85 degrees. Zero will eliminate the seasons, and an 85-degree flip will put the Earth on its side. If that happened, the current crisis, which we call global warming, would be a pleasant tea drinking compared to the potential one.
Fortunately, the loosening of the earth's axis will affect us only after many millions of years.
And if during this time we do not die of boredom, we will have to silently observe how the disappearance of the Moon destroys our culture and art, animals, music, poetry, photography and so on.
A natural question arises. We will survive if the alien invaders destroy the moon first. But why do they need it?