why?
2006-11-13 04:31:10 · 6 answers · asked by neon_matrix5000 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Oz gave a pretty good answer, but a magnetic field doesn't create a gravitational attraction. Gravity and electromagnetism are two different forces (at least under normal conditions--some scientists think they may be the same under extreme heat and pressure).
2006-11-13 04:56:14 · answer #1 · answered by Amy F 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The moon does not have magenetic polar fields, unlike the Earth.
"It turns out that you can think of the Earth as having a gigantic bar magnet buried inside. In order for the north end of the compass to point toward the North Pole, you have to assume that the buried bar magnet has its south end at the North Pole. If you think of the world this way, then you can see that the normal "opposites attract" rule of magnets would cause the north end of the compass needle to point toward the south end of the buried bar magnet. So the compass points toward the North Pole. "
So a compass would be completely useless on the moon or would it?
The magnetic field of the earth however may cause the needle to point to earth, as earth would be the strongest magnetic force.
But due to newton's law of gravitation, the distance cubed is inversely proportional to the gravity squared.
So the gravitational attraction of earth's north pole would be very, very week at the moon, so weak that it will not be able to attract the needle.
If you were in space at a distance of 1/4 of the distance between the earth and moon, the compass would work (and will point towards earth's north pole)..anything outside and the compass is completely useless.
2006-11-13 12:35:02 · answer #2 · answered by Oz 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A compass would work just fine on the moon - but it wouldn't point toward "north" - it would simply point toward the strongest magnetic field it encounters.
2006-11-13 12:38:44 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Earth has a magnetic field because it rotates and because it's interior is molten. The moon has no molten interior, thus no magnetic field and nothing for a compass to point to.
2006-11-13 12:37:34 · answer #4 · answered by RationalThinker 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the moon is a very small body as compared to any planet.
as the magnetism of an astronomical body depends on the strength of its core, therefore there will be very less or nil magnetic force across the poles of moon.
2006-11-13 13:02:48 · answer #5 · answered by coolzabhishek_007 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Magnetic Poles ever heard of North and South? The moon dont have them.
2006-11-13 12:38:59 · answer #6 · answered by garrett 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋