Science Space Question PLEASE HELP?

Question

What is the relationship between the moon's surface gravity, lack of an atmosphere, and temperature range?

also, why is the moon's surface for heavily cratered than Earth's surface?

Answer 1

atmosphere is created when gravity holds all the gas molecules around it, like earth's gravity is holding all the nitrogen/oxygen/water vapor/etc around it. since the moon doesn't have as much gravity, it can't hold in the same atmosphere. the atmosphere and humidity around a planet also absorb and hold heat. when the sun sets on earth, the temperature doesn't change drastically, even though the sun's not providing heat anymore, because the atmosphere is hanging on to the heat it absorbed during the day. if there is less atmosphere to absorb the heat, once the sun goes down the temperature will drop drastically.

I'm not sure about the craters, but my guess is that the moon is more cratered because there's no erosion. on a planet like earth, water and wind constantly wash across the surface and erode any irregularities like craters, so the surface is relatively smooth. on the moon, there's no water and no wind (no atmosphere = no wind), so there's no erosion to smooth out the craters.

Answer 2

The moon is far smaller in mass than the earth, therefore the force of gravity it exerts is far less. Thus, the gravity it exerts is not strong enough to hold onto the elements that would make an atmosphere. An atmosphere acts almost like an invisible blanket. Light passes through, warming the surface. The heat radiates out, but is caught by the blanket and held for a length of time instead of just going back into space. Without an atmosphere, the moon cannot hold heat around it. Thus, the face of the moon is hottest when it faces the sun, coldest when it faces away from the sun, and cannot maintain temperatures in the middle.
The surface of the moon appears to be more heavily cratered than that of the earth for several reasons. First, there are forests, oceans, and other places for meteorites to land on earth that will hide crater formations. These areas do not exist on the moon. Second, erosion by wind and water on earth cover craters, which also cannot occur on the moon.

Answer 3

Last question first.

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/moon/moon_surface.html

Cratering Density
The amount of cratering is usually an indication of the age of a geological surface: the more craters, the older the surface, because if the surface is young there hasn't been time for many craters to form. Thus, the Earth has a relatively young surface because it has few craters. This is because the Earth is geologically active, with plate tectonics and erosion having obliterated most craters from an earlier epoch. In contrast the surface of the Moon is much older, with much more cratering. Further, different parts of the surface of the Moon exhibit different amounts of cratering and therefore are of different ages: the maria are younger than the highlands, because they have fewer craters.
The oldest surfaces in the Solar System are characterized by maximal cratering density. This means that one cannot increase the density of craters because there are so many craters that, on average, any new crater that is formed by a meteor impact will obliterate a previous crater, leaving the total number unchanged. Some regions of the moon exhibit near maximal cratering density, indicating that they are very old.

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/moon/moon_orbital.html

Since the synodic rotational period of the Moon is 29.5 days, Lunar day and Lunar night are each about 15 Earth days long. During the Lunar night the temperature drops to around -113 degrees Celsius, while during the Lunar day the temperature reaches 100 degrees Celsius. The temperature changes are very rapid since there is no atmosphere or surface water to store heat.

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/moon/moon_formation.html

Are the prevailing theories of where the moon came from. It was interesting.

The moon does have a smaller gravitation field than the earth, but that does not account totally for the lack of atmosphere of the moon. The earth has a rotating nickle iron core that generates a magnetic field. The magnetic field protects the atmosphere of earth by deflecting the solar winds. The moon does not have a magnetic field strong enough to deflect the solar winds so any atmosphere of the moon can be stripped by the solar winds in combination with the low gravity.

Answer 4

A heavenly body that has a high surface gravity, it is more likely to have an atmosphere than a planet/moon that has a low surface gravity. The higher the gravity, the more gas particles it collects and retains in its surface. Temperature depends on the distance of the planet/moon to a star.

The Earth's moon doesn't have enough gravity to hold an atmosphere, that is why it's surface is covered with craters. The friction created by a falling meteor and the layers of gas in an atmosphere burns up the meteor before it even touches the Earth. The moon doesn't not have an atmosphere to protect itself from cosmic bombardments of rocks.

Answer 5

Emily's answer seems correct, but since the Moon does not have an atmosphere it can't trap heat in. That's why there is such a big temperature difference from the side that the sun hits and the 'dark side' of the moon. The temperature range of the moon is 265 degrees F in the sunlight and -170 degrees F in the shade....

The moon doesn't have a magnetic field (the density of the moon tells us this) allowing space objects to hit the surface of the moon more often. Hope this helps you!

Answer 6

G'day Cell User,

Thank you for your question.

The moon doesn't have enough gravity to retain an atmosphere as it is a sixth of the Earth's. This means in part that its climatic variations are much more pronounced with daytime highs of 130 degrees celsius (enough to boil water) to a nightime low of -110 degrees. It also means that there have been much more metor impacts as there is no atmoshere in which burn up.

I have attached sources for your reference.

Regards