What if Earth didn't have a moon?

Answer 1

Do we really need the moon? I thought that it was like our gallbladder. Totally disposable, right? Tide, Schmide.

Answer 2

The axis of the earth would not be the somewhat constant of a 22 degree tilt. The moon's mass gravitational factor acts much like the governor on an engine. You can observe the wild polar axis swing of other planets which have much smaller moons in relationship to their mass, or planets which have no moons.

The moon is "retreating" from the earth at somewhere around 1 1/2 inches per year. In the distant future, its stabilizing effects on our planet will become far less and violent climactic changes will occur. The rotational speed of the Earth and moon will eventually change to match, resulting in a month that is approximately 47 days,

At one point, a few hundred millions years ago, the moon occupied a large portion of our night sky and exerted a much greater force on our planet. Our year was about 400 days long and a day was about 14 hours.

Answer 3

Earth's outer crust would be more solid, there would be no tide as we know it and the cow would have nothing to jump over. No one would ever be Looney, we would have no Lunatics and green cheese would never be eaten by the man in the moon. No one could moon you or walk in the moonlight. Neil Armstrong could never have made the statement he did and we could never wait in line to see a moon rock or moon dust or any of the Apollo spacecraft or Moon River. Never again could we blame it for turning very nice guys into terrifying animals of the night or supplying a place at which the wolves might howl or for giving freaks a way to walk.
So here's to it, that crazy old moon that gives us so much pleasure and pain. And I loved Moon Pies.

Answer 4

There wouln't be any tides, for one thing, so a lot of sea creatures might be different. There are also a lot of land animals whose primary feeding times are when the moon is at certain positions, so those animals would be feeding on a different schedule too, if they even evolved into what they are now (who knows how the moon might have affected early evolution).

There wouldn't be any lunar calendars, such as the kind used in Islam, no Chinese New Year.

We might never have made it into space (or at least it might have been centuries later than when we did) - the moon kind of gave us a stepping point.

No eclipses, so probably a lot of change in the dynamics of ancient Southern American cultures.

That's all I can think of right now.

Interesting question.

Answer 5

no tides. all the shellfish and other life that lives in those areas where tide goes in, then out, might not exist, or be quite different.

a lot of the erosion and other that happens with tides, wouldn't happen, so the sea shores would be geologically quieter.

no romantic nights looking at the Moon. no race to go to it the first time - and now the second time. no poems about the Moon ("so we'll go no more a-roving..."). no moon calendars.

i'd miss it. How about doing the opposite, thinking about having two moons? ;-)

Answer 6

There would be no tides. Although the impact of that is purely speculative, there are many creatures which rely on the tides for their survival. They effect ocean currents, it is conceivable that the emergence of life on earth might not have happened if it didn't have a moon.

Answer 7

The Earth would be "off-kilter". No more tides, seasons, weather patterns would change, no light at night and I am sure so much more would go wrong, even more than now, what with the eco-system being screwed up by us humans.

Answer 8

No tides, no goddesses of the moon, a lot less love songs, different orbit,

Answer 9

The gravity would be messed up... we would be floatin away!

Answer 10

nothin' cuz it would still have uranus...blahahahaha