What Would Happen If The Moon Were Destroyed? Essay, Research Paper

What would happen if the moon was distroyed?

I have often wondered what would happen if the moon were destroyed and how it would be destroyed. Would a crazy scientist nuke it? Maybe an asteroid would hit it. Astronomers have catalogued all large objects in space that are larger than 500 kilometers in diameter and non-of them seem to be headed towards our moon. Based on this information, the only conclusion that I can come up with, was if the moon was to be blown up by some crazy scientist. Many people in this world also ask similar questions. Brad Tull writes, ?What would happen if a comet or meteor were to hit the moon and completely destroy it??

There have been a number of different theories in the formation of the moon. Scientists have come up with The Fission Theory, The Binary Theory, The Capture Theory, and The Giant Impact Theory. With all these theories, I don?t know which one to believe. The only credible theory that I can believe is from the Bible, pp 1, in the Book of Genesis. [1] ?In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth [?], And God said, ?Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.? And it was so. God made two great lights ? the greater light [sun] to govern the day and the lesser light [moon] to govern the night.?

The moon has a number of effects that govern the Earth. For example, there is the Precession, the Tides are affected, the reflection of the sun, gives us light during the night, and very importantly the moon also affects our seasons.

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As Mr. Alaniz once stated in his class that if there was no moon, there would still be tides due to the Sun?s gravitational pool; however, the gravitational pool would not be as strong therefore seasons would change. From fossil measurements, Scientists predict that Earth?s rotation is gradually slowing down. Every century, they predict that the length of day increases by two milliseconds; however, this is not much on the scale of a human lifetime. The only way this can affect civilization is over millions of years. Half a billion years ago, the day was just over twenty-one hours long and the year contained four hundred and ten days! The tidal effect of the moon is the main reason for Earth?s axis decreasing in its spin. Because of Earth?s rotation, the tidal bulge raised by the Moon does not point directly at the Moon. However, through the effects of friction, both between the crust and the oceans and within Earth?s interior, Earth?s rotation tends to drag the tidal bulge around with it, causing the bulge to be displaced by a small angle from the Earth-Moon line, in the same direction as Earth?s spin. The net effect of the Moons Gravitational Pull on this slightly offset Bulge is to reduce our planet?s rotation. At the same time, the Moon is spiraling slowly away from our planet by about 4 cm per century!

The Precession of Earth is caused by the gravitational pulls of the Moon and Sun.

The Precession is defined as the slow gyration of the Earth?s spin. The time Earth takes to complete one orbit around the sun is called a Sidereal Year. One Sidereal Year is equal to 365.256 solar days long. That is approximately 20 minutes longer than a tropical year. This is the reason for the Phenomenon known as the Precession. It takes 26,000 years to complete one cycle of Precession.

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Scientists have found out that every 400 years, there are miniature ice ages. In the 1600, when the English Colonists migrated to America, they experienced the worst winters ever. A lot of people died due to food shortages, the cold weather, and disease. In 60 years from now, they predict that another one of these miniature ice ages will occur (every 400 years). The only way that we can avoid this ice age would be to move nearer to the equator. If the Moon were destroyed, there would be these miniature ice ages all over the world. They would come about by the Earth?s axis being moved out of orbit due to the gravitational pull of the moon. If there were to be these ice ages, you would expect to have other natural disasters such as heat waves, floods, etc. Mankind would not be able to survive under this type of stress. Plants and animals will eventually die and become extinct. The oceans will evaporate; therefore, causing the water vapor in the atmosphere to be released into space. If this happens, the moisture in the atmosphere will not shield the x-rays from the sun; therefore, causing whatever life on earth to literally fry away.

If a comet large enough to impact the Moon and destroy it would occur, there would be a lot of heat and light coming form the Moon. After the collision the heat that we would encounter would be like all the energy we get from sunlight over the course of eight months. No life on Earth would be able to survive this kind of a disaster. After the collision, there would be giant pieces of the moon and the comet falling down to Earth due to gravity.

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As they enter our atmosphere, the friction would cause some of the pieces to fizzle out; however, the larger objects would become even hotter and as they hit the Earth, they would cause an enormous explosion. Mr. Alaniz once stated that the Moon was 6 times smaller than the Earth. Based on this fact, the impact would send Earth out of its orbit and if there were any life on Earth, we would all then be x-rayed to death.

My mother once told me that in life there are no guarantees. I told the same thing to an insecure girlfriend that I used to date and two weeks later she cheated on me. If a foreign object, 500 kilometers in diameter had to hit the moon, we would know by now. The US, the Russians and a lot of other nations are involved in some type of space venture. We have the technology to probably stop something like that from occurring; however, if it is your time to go, then so be it.

1000 words