What is going to happen to Earth once the moon escapes Earth's orbit? How long do we have?

Question

Will it be the end for us? Will the moon go into the sun or be captured by one of our other neighbor planets?

Answer 1

The moon will not "escape" Earth's orbit. They form a gravitationally bound system. The moon's distance from Earth is increasing a miniscule amount each year. At some point in the future the moon will recede far enough that one face of the Earth will always face the moon; at that point the two bodies will have reached gravitational equilibrium and nothing more will happen.

Answer 2

I agree with stevebwcanda---the moon will continue to move outward, as the Earth's day gets longer and longer, until eventually the day, the lunar month, and the year are all the same length---a little shorter than the length of the current year. The moon will be several times further away than it is now, but it won't escape from the Earth's orbit.

Long before this happens, however, the Sun will burn out, expand to a Red Giant, and collapse to a White Dwarf. We've only got about 8 billion years before that happens.

Answer 3

There is a better chance that it could be pulled in by earths gravity.

Many people don't know but as the moon circles the earth it also rotates exactly at the correct rate so that the same side always faces the earth.

The crust of the moon is much thicker on the side that faces earth.

If the rotation was to be upset over time or by something large enough hitting it then the thinner crust could cause breakage and part or all of the moon could be pulled towards the earth.

I wouldn't worry about it in your life time... we could be so lucky to have something that unusual happen in our lifetime but the chunks of the moon could be planet killers.

I think natural or man made global warming will cause greater harm to people on earth.

Answer 4

I've read somewhere that the moon actually helps keep our rotation centered, so I guess if we lost the moon the planet would start to rock around a little more. But it doesn't seem like we have much to worry about for a long time, it's escaping the earth at about an inch a year.

Answer 5

Not a question of "if" but when" This will happen one day and when it does this is what will happen: There will be blizzards over the Sahara, floodwaters swallowing the Pyramids, 90-degree temperatures in Antarctica. As the earth wobbles on its axis – unsecured by the moon's gravitational pull – the polar caps would grow and recede at frightening rates. And without the moon, our planet would spin much faster – meaning four-hour days and searing temperatures. Mankind would not last not even a minute.

Answer 6

The rotation would slow (days would be longer) and the tilt of the planet would very as the poles would wobble in circles with nothing to stabilize. The Earth's center of Gravity isn't perfectly in the middle. I was reading about how in millions of years time the sun will get hotter as it ages and one way to beat this would be to move Earth into an orbit further out. To do this they would steal orbital energy from asteroids by diverting them to pass close to Earth and that might yank away our moon. Assuming they don't muck it up and slam and asteroid into Earth by accident.

Answer 7

Who ever said the Moon was ever going to escape the Earths orbit. But if for some reason it ever did the results would be massive from giant weather changes to loss of tides and even a change in earth orbit around the sun.

Answer 8

it is much more likely that the moon's orbit will decay and the moon will collapse on the earth than that the moon will escape earth's orbit

their will be no significant change in the moon's orbit for many many thousands of years (unless some massive object enters our solar system and disturbs it)

there are many things that are more threatening to the human species than the moon (leaving or crashing)

Answer 9

I don't think the moon is going to leave any time soon, but slowing earth rotation to a stop that's for sure...

Answer 10

will be just perfectly fine

no tidal wawe


dotn belive evry retard who claims if no moon no life or somthing

they dotn have a clue