Does the moon spin as it revolves around the earth?

Answer 1

yes the moon does rotate as it revolves around the earth. the moon, however, does not revolve around the earth with a constant speed. the orbit of the moon is an ellipse. when the moon is closest to the earth, it revolves a little faster than it rotates so we can see a small part of the far side of the moon. also, when the moon is farthest from the earth it revolves a little slower than it rotates is so we can see another small part of the far side of the moon.

this is an animation of the moon. it is 27 photographs of the moon taken on consecutive days. you will see that as the moon gets smaller as it gets farther and gets bigger as it gets closer. you will also see the moon turns back and forth as it's speed changes because its distance from the earth is changing.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051113.html

the moon rotates as fast as it revolves because of tidal locking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking

Answer 2

The short answer is "yes".
As many others have stated, the moon rotates on it's axis at exactly the same rate that it revolves around the earth and that is why we only see one side of it form the earth.
The reason (also explained by others) is because the moon is tidally locked to the earth. But an additional note of insterest is that the earth is slowly becoming tidally locked to the moon as well.
The moon's pull on the earth's oceans are slowly acting like a set of brakes and causes the earth to spin more slowly over the years. The rate of decrease is not very much, but it is there. And in a few million years or so, (I don't recall the exact time frame) the earth will spin so slowly that the moon will appear in one part of the sky all the time and never move. If you live on the other side of the earth, you will never see the moon at all.
A side affect of all this is that the moon will get farther and farther away from us (conservation of momentum) over time.

Answer 3

Yes, it spins at essentially precisely the same rate as it revolves around the Earth. The consequence of this is that it always keeps one face turned toward Earth. The farside of the moon was not revealed to humanity until the rocket age dawned in the 1960's when we sent spacecraft out to take a look.

Answer 4

The Moon spins one time for every one time it orbits the Earth. That is why we only see one face. If the Moon did not spin, we would see different parts of the Moon's surface at different points in its orbit. 27.3 days to orbit, and 27.3 days to spin means that one side always faces Earth. The Earth's tidal forces have slowed down the Moon's rotation and locked it into this state. The Moon is trying to do the same to us, but since we are so massive, it will not succeed.

And you don't need to spin to generate a gravitational field; you just need mass. Now to generate a *magnetic* field, you must spin rapidly.

JIM

Answer 5

Yes, however it is "tidally locket" with the earth, meaning that the same side of the moon always faces the earth. Therefore it is rotating, but at the same rate that is is revolving around the earth. Stated another way, one revolution of the moon about it's axis takes the same ammount of time as one orbit around Earth.

Answer 6

yes, the moon revolves around the earth and simultaneously rotates on its axis
the rate at which it revolves is the same as the rate at which it rotates, therefore only one side of the moon perpetually faces the earth
hence the saying- dark side of the moon

Answer 7

Think of yourself out on the dance floor.

You and your partner face one another and, holding his hands, you twirl completely around him once, a full revolution. Do you spin around?

The answer is yes. Although, to one another, you are always facing one another, to everyone else on the dance floor you have made one complete pirouette (or rotation). If you looked over his shoulder as you revolved around him, you would see everyone else in the room at least once as you revolved.

The moon and earth are like that, with mutual gravity taking the place of arms. (And with the earth not looking straight ahead the whole time, much like a man.) (giggles)

Answer 8

Indeed. The moon rotates in a way that makes it always face the earth with the same part.

Answer 9

These people don't make any sense. How does it spin if the same side is always facing the earth?

Also, why would mass need to rotate to have gravity?

Answer 10

Yes, it spins in a way that ensures only one side always faces the earth directly.

Basically it rotates its face as it orbits us so we never see anything but one side.

Hence all those phrases "dark side of the moon". Because we've only seen one side of it.