Where would the Moon go if Earth disappeared?
If the earth suddenly disappeared… POOF!!!!!, the moon would continue in its orbit around the Sun although the wobble in the orbit would disappear. The moon and the earth are actually exchanged energy via the tides.
What would happen if Earth’s gravitational pull on the Moon suddenly stopped?
The reason they bounce up and down is that the moon is much smaller than, and therefore has much less gravity than, Earth. The lack of any forceful gravitational pull would turn humans – and anything else with mass, like cars and buildings – into very fast-moving tumbleweeds.
What would happen to the tides of the Moon was farther away from Earth?
Once a month, when the moon is closest to the Earth (at perigee), tide-generating forces are higher than usual, producing above-average ranges in the tides. About two weeks later, when the moon is farthest from the Earth (at apogee), the lunar tide-raising force is smaller, and the tidal ranges are less than average.
Why is the Moon moving away from the Earth?
Right now, the Moon is moving away from the Earth at a rate of about four centimeters per year, due to the tidal interaction between the Earth and the Moon. At a basic level, the Moon’s gravity exerts a drag on the Earth that slows its rotation, and the Earth’s gravity exerts a pull on the Moon that expands its orbit.
Is the Moon going to leave us?
The simple answer is: The Moon is probably never going to leave us. There is no well-defined scientific scenario in which the Moon ever escapes from the Earth, and even the long-shot possibility emerges only long after Earth has been largely destroyed by the Sun.
Is the Moon gradually spiralling away from Earth?
Astronomy books are fond of quoting the fact that the Moon is gradually spiralling away from Earth. This is the flipside of the tidal forces that our satellite imposes on Earth – tidal bulges raised in our planet’s oceans by the Moon’s gravity pull back at the Moon and cause it to speed up, which in turn raises it into a higher orbit.
How does gravity affect the motion of the Moon?
At a basic level, the Moon’s gravity exerts a drag on the Earth that slows its rotation, and the Earth’s gravity exerts a pull on the Moon that expands its orbit. The two effects balance out, conserving angular momentum. The four centimeter-per-year motion is only the current rate of movement.