"Why is the moon so important?"?

Question

What would happen if the moon wasn't there????

Answer 1

Well, firstly, our tides would be virtually nonexistent, as they are created mainly by the pull of the moon's gravity. This would have a major effect on the various currents that flow around the globe, affecting the transfer of heat and severely messing up our climate. Also, there would be significantly less light at night, disrupting the activity of any number of nocturnal species, and thus disrupting ecosystems all around the world. Also, it would mean that all those songs and poems that reference the moon would become obsolete!

Answer 2

Several people have mentioned tides but that answer falls very short of the truth.

Early in Earth's history the planet was almost completely covered with water. The mountains were fewer and lower. This is because of two factors. The first is that Earth was much less tectonically active. Although there are moutains on the Earth that are caused by volcanic activity the vast majority of moutain ranges were caused by the Plates pressing against each other until the rock was forced upward. With less tectonic activity the Earth was flatter than it is today. Not flat, of course, but there would have been very little land above the deeper Oceans. Venus has no moon and is not tectonically active.

Then an amazing and unlikely event occurred. A large meteor struck the Earth at just the right angle causing debris to be thrown into orbit where it eventually gathered together to form the Moon. This event removed most of the water that had been covering the Earth and also added a lot of energy to the molten core. Furthermore, this is what gave the Earth its current spin allowing it to have a 24 hour day. Venus is nearly Earth's twin but it shows what happened to planet without a moon like ours. Venus's day is 243 Earth days long and its magnetic field is about 1/100,000 of Earth's. And, the Crust on Venus does not move tectonically to form mountains; the differences in elevation appear to be solely form volcanic activity. Even if Venus were in Earth's orbit it could not support life. The day must be faster the core must be active enough to provide a stronger magnetic field to protect against the Solar wind.

Just as the Moon pulls on the water in the Oceans and makes tides it also pulls on the Earth's Crust and makes it flex slightly. This flexing of the Earth's crust continues to add energy but this also allows the Plates to move. One way of thinking about it is as though the surface of the Earth had waves that rolled across in response to the tidal pull of the Moon. These low amplitude but extremely long waves work by causing the pressure to shift four times a day from a minimum twice to a maximum twice. This is similar to tapping something that is stuck to free it up.

The tides rise and fall, and the Plates shift and form mountains. The mountains erode freeing up nutrients. These tidal areas may have been where organic molecules first formed but they were certainly where fish first began to make forays onto land to feed much as mudskippers do today. With tides it is not certain that this would have occurred.

However, there is another effect that most people are not aware of. The Moon stabilizes the axis of the Earth which prevents it from tilting too far. If the axis did tilt further this would render the Earth uninhabitable for most living creatures since this would make the difference between Summer and Winter extreme, rising and falling one hundred degrees or more depending on the amount of tilt. Extremes in temperature would fuel extremes weather.

Of course, someone could point out that the tides on Earth come from two sources: the Moon and the Sun so that the Earth would not be entirely without tides. The problem with this is twofold. First, because of the Moon the tides shift in magnitude as the Moon orbits the Earth. The tides become weaker and stronger as the Moon adds to or takes away from the effect of the Sun. It takes the added effect of the Moon during Spring tide to flex the Crust enough to make it move. Venus is closer to the Sun than Earth and therefore has a stronger Solar tide but is not tectonically active. Secondly, the Solar tide drags on the Earth and causes its spin to slow which is why Venus has a 243 Earth day long day. The meteor that struck the Earth would have changed its spin because it had to strike off center. This is probably why the Earth spins faster. Who knows, if Venus had had a moon maybe today it would be a very different place.

Answer 3

It's quite important that it gives us light in the dark, and it helps the ship to navigate when they sailed. It is a connotation (represents) of night when people sleep or they are night person.

It's quite vital that it has similarity with the sun, it give the light however the aura of gravity that sea waves can be seen. The light are needed around 12 hours when we are awake as we need sun and moon's light that we have direction to see clearly.

Without it, there will be confusion that we will stay indoors to switch on lights rather than outdoor.

Answer 4

The moon affects many things in our world. Without the moon we would not have tides or eclipses. Our calendar system is based on the moon as well. Without the lunar cycles, we wouldn't have the 12 months as we know them now. Women's menstrual cycles would be different as well. The entire Chinese calendar would be different. We'd have much fewer werewolves too...

Answer 5

Our axis could go out of whack without the moon and cause one side of the earth to be frozen and the other side to be burnt. Also, the tide wouldn't be as strong. Also, the moon has also protected us from many devastating blows from asteroids and comets.

Answer 6

the gravitation of the moon affects the tides of the ocean. also, some scientist theorize that the orbit of the earth around the sun could be affected by the absence of the moon.

Answer 7

The moon gives science-fiction writers in South Africa a place where their wise, brave, intelligent, fearless, intrepid, bold, clever, heroic, black, fictional astronauts can land and say one-uppity-manship things about how they did it better than the White people did it.

If it weren't there, those South African science-fiction writers would have to write stories about blacks building themselves a spaceship (all by themselves, without any help) and going to Mars, instead. And even the most nationalistic black would laugh himself silly at the idea.

Answer 8

the moon has something to do with low and high tides Im pretty sure. and a full moon is gorgeous.

Answer 9

It's pretty! Seriously: it isn't all about math and physics and stuff - if the moon stopped being there tomorrow, I'd miss it, even if the return to equilibrium didn't cause much havoc on our environment!

Answer 10

The moon has a put on the earth that is vital to us, if it weren't there we could have some major flood problems.