2006-10-27 11:18:05 · 17 answers · asked by csnape2003 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
how can you tell that...from earth...you must have good eyesight!!!
2006-10-27 11:19:52 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 6⤋
Chaos. No orbit in the universe will ever be tidally locked or in any kind of balance. The moon will continue to move away from us at 4 cm a year until the rotation of the earth slows to match the orbital period of the moon. At that point, the moons orbit will begin decreasing and will continue to decay until it collides with the earth. But there is good news, the sun will become a red giant and incinerate the earth and the moon long before that collision. (5 billion years from now, don't start your doomsday party planning just yet.)
2006-10-27 19:52:10 · answer #2 · answered by gone 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Some of the Earth's rotational momentum is gradually being transferred to the Moon's orbital momentum, resulting in the Moon slowly receding from Earth at the rate of approximately 38 millimetres per year. At the same time the Earth's rotation is gradually slowing, the Earth's day thus lengthens by about 15 µs every year.
2006-10-27 18:50:25 · answer #3 · answered by fresh2 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Because the Earth and the Moon are not completely tidally locked.
The relatively rapid rotation of Earth 'pulls' the tidal bulge slightly ahead of the Moon in it's orbital path. It's kind of like a huge torque converter. Those leading bulges pull on the Moon, dragging it into a faster orbit slowly but surely. Greater velocity = higher orbit.
This process will slow down and end when the Earth/Moon system is completely tidally locked.
2006-10-27 18:23:37 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
I like the tidal forces answer best, but as an alternative, what about the influence of the sun? When the moon is between the sun and the earth, it must be pulled away from us slightly, whereas when it's behind the earth, it's pulled closer to us. The force pulling away from Earth is stronger than that pulling towards earth because the distance to the sun is slightly shorter. A weee, weeeeee bit shorter. It's probably neglegible, but this is just a guess.
2006-10-27 18:46:06 · answer #5 · answered by Enrique C 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
my understanding of it is, the moon gravitational force pulls the seas of earth towards itself (the tidal bulge) on the side of earth that the moon is facing (however there's also a tidal bulge on the opposite side due to the decrease amount of gravitational force, but we will only focus on the earth side facing the moon). in effect the earth is slowing down due to the kinetic energy from these tidal bulges where the energy spend in trying to pull the moon closer to earth but instead (due to the laws perpetual motion) it's increasing the moons velocity which in turn is increasing the arc of the moons orbit.
so the kinetic energy thats slowing earth down due to the tidal bulges is been sapped by the moon and in turn is increasing its orbit. thats why the moon is receding.
imagine you are holding a string with a ball on the end , you starting to turn slowly (enough so that the ball is in the air) the ball orbit to you is small, but as you used more energy it's translated to the ball which will increase it's orbit directly proportional to the energy you supply. you are losing energy much the same way earth is losing energy but the ball / moon is gaining energy and therefore receding.
2006-10-28 03:42:13 · answer #6 · answered by sycamore 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
the moon is moving away from the earth for the simple reason the universe is expanding and has been since it began. because of the size and mass of the moon it is slowly pulling away from us.sad but true however it will be around for a long time yet.we in turn are also moving away from the sun as all the planets and stuff are moving away from the centre of the universe. hope this helps. yipe i could even be wrong lol.
2006-10-27 19:29:14 · answer #7 · answered by DARREN A 1 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Haha, how are we measuring it? Easy. Lasers, or radio waves, we shoot them at the moon and measure how long it takes the waves to bounce back. They have determined that every year it is taking longer for the waves to bounce back and be measured. That being said, they are able to measure the distance, which is less than an inch a year. That is microscopic.
2006-10-27 18:50:13 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Natural progression
2006-10-30 03:12:02 · answer #9 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
BEcauuse us humans r mak9ing a big hole in the eaqrth which is knocking alot of things out of there orbit
2006-10-27 18:29:02 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 4⤋
Didn't know it was. Thought it could only happen if either or both are losing mass and I don't know how that can happen.
2006-10-27 18:25:05 · answer #11 · answered by migdalski 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋