Could a second Moon have caused the Dinosaurs end?

Question

Is it possible the earth had 2 moons one that was smaller. The orbit of the smaller one decayed causing it to crash into the earth. This should create enough trama to the enviroment to cause mass extention. Looking for scientific probablity. My Six year old wanted to know why the earth only has one Moon. Could it have had more?

Answer 1

The cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs and the origin of the Moon have always been a debate among scientists.


Suffice to say the enviroments changed so much that the dinosaurs couldn't survive, it could have happened very fast or slowly.


As for the Moon's origin.

The Moon have a lot of strange features. And its relationship features to Earth is quite strange.

The article below suggest that Moon might have caused the Flood and appeared after it, it also have other suggestions.

http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/10/10/38008.html



If you want to find a gigantic crater on Earth, I suggest the North Pole, or to be more precise, the Arctic Ocean.

Answer 2

The moon is relatively large compared to earth and is the 7th largest in solar system. If earth had a second moon, it would have been small as a newborn hippopotamus (2 feet). That would have only created an explosion about 100 metres around it. It was because of a large meteorite (almost half the size of moon or more) which had hit the earth and the dinosaurs had died.

Answer 3

The earth's moon is so big in proportion to the earth that it's unlikely it ever had another. The earth-moon system has also been described as a double-planet, because no other planet has a moon so big in proportion to its primary (1:4). The only other terrestrial-sized planet to have a moon is Mars, which has two very small moons the size of asteroids. If the Earth had another moon of similar size, the moon's (Luna's) gravity would have sent in on a random trajectory almost immediately, not just a mere 65 million years ago.

Answer 4

Doubtful, if something as large as a moon (even a small one) hit the earth, there would still be a gaping crater and it would've probably been the end to all life. Now many do think an asteroid hitting the earth is what wiped out the dinosaurs, but it was not nearly big as any kind of moon.

Answer 5

I don't think anyone really has the answer to this. there are so many theories and the most convincing ones get the attention and possibly the cause. We can ask ourselves, why did the cavemen become extinct and evolve into modern mankind? But GEICO has resurrected the caveman. So we are back where we started.

Answer 6

your question has 2 parts

The first part is " what caused the end of disnasaurs????"

Dinosaurs were vertebrate animals that dominated terrestrial ecosystems for over 160 million years, first appearing approximately 230 million years ago. At the end of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 65 million years ago, a catastrophic extinction event ended dinosaurs' dominance on land. One significant group of dinosaurs has survived until the present day; taxonomists consider modern birds to be the direct descendants of theropod dinosaurs.
The asteroid collision theory, which was first proposed by Walter Alvarez in the late 1970s, links the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period to a bolide impact approximately 65.5 million years ago. Alvarez proposed that a sudden increase in iridium levels, recorded around the world in the period's rock stratum, was direct evidence of the impact. The bulk of the evidence now suggests that a 5-15 km wide bolide hit in the vicinity of the Yucatán Peninsula, creating the 170 km-wide Chicxulub Crater and triggering the mass extinction. Scientists are not certain whether dinosaurs were thriving or declining before the impact event. Some scientists propose that the meteorite caused a long and unnatural drop in Earth's atmospheric temperature, while others claim that it would have instead created an unusual heat wave.
Although the speed of extinction cannot be deduced from the fossil record alone, various models suggest that the extinction was extremely rapid. The consensus among scientists who support this theory is that the impact caused extinctions both directly (by heat from the meteorite impact) and also indirectly (via a worldwide cooling brought about when matter ejected from the impact crater reflected thermal radiation from the sun).
While similar to Alvarez's impact theory (which involved a single asteroid or comet), this theory proposes that a stream of comets was dislodged from the Oort cloud due to the gravitational disruption caused by a passing star. One or more of these objects then collided with the Earth at approximately the same time, causing the worldwide extinction. As with the impact of a single asteroid, the end result of this comet bombardment would have been a sudden drop in global temperatures, followed by a protracted cool period.
At the peak of the dinosaur era, there were no polar ice caps, and sea levels are estimated to have been from 100 to 250 metres (330 to 820 feet) higher than they are today. The planet's temperature was also much more uniform, with only 25 degrees Celsius separating average polar temperatures from those at the equator. On average, atmospheric temperatures were also much warmer; the poles, for example, were 50 °C warmer than today.
The atmosphere's composition during the dinosaur era was vastly different as well. Carbon dioxide levels were up to 12 times higher than today's levels, and oxygen formed 32 to 35% of the atmosphere, as compared to 21% today. However, by the late Cretaceous, the environment was changing dramatically. Volcanic activity was decreasing, which led to a cooling trend as levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide dropped. Oxygen levels in the atmosphere also started to fluctuate and would ultimately fall considerably. Some scientists hypothesize that climate change, combined with lower oxygen levels, might have led directly to the demise of many species. If the dinosaurs had respiratory systems similar to those commonly found in modern birds, it may have been particularly difficult for them to cope with reduced respiratory efficiency, given the enormous oxygen demands of their very large bodies.



The second part "have the earth had more than one moon???"

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It has no formal English name other than "the Moon", although it is occasionally called Luna (Latin for "moon") to distinguish it from the generic term "moon" (referring to any of the various natural satellites of other planets). Its symbol is a crescent (ƒ). The related adjective for the Moon is lunar (from the Latin root), but this is not found in combination with words using the prefix seleno- or suffix -selene (from the Greek deity Selene).
The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,399 kilometres (238,854 miles), which is about 30 times the diameter of the Earth. The Moon is about one-third the size of the Earth and has a diameter of 3,474 kilometres (2,159 miles).
It is the fifth largest moon in the Solar System behind Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, and Io. The Moon makes one complete orbit about the Earth every 27.3 days, and the periodic variations in the geometry of the Earth-Moon-Sun system are responsible for the lunar phases that repeat every 29.5 days. The gravitational attraction of the Moon is responsible for the tides on Earth.
The origin of the Moon is still uncertain, although much evidence exists for the giant impact hypothesis. Earth may not have been the only planet forming 150 million kilometers from the Sun. It is hypothesized that another collection occurred 150 million kilometers from both the Sun and the Earth, at their fourth or fifth Lagrangian point. This planet, named Theia, is thought to have been smaller than the current Earth, probably about the size and mass of Mars. Its orbit may at first have been stable, but destabilized as Earth increased its mass by the accretion of more and more material. Theia swung back and forth relative to Earth until, finally, an estimated 4.533 billion years ago (about 12:10 a.m. on our clock),[3] it collided at a low, oblique angle. The low speed and angle were not enough to destroy Earth, but a large portion of its crust was ejected. Heavier elements from Theia sank to Earth’s core, while the remaining material and ejecta condensed into a single body within a couple of weeks. Under the influence of its own gravity, this became a more spherical body: the Moon.[4] The impact is also thought to have changed Earth’s axis to produce the large 23.5° axial tilt that is responsible for Earth’s seasons. (A simple, ideal model of the planets’ origins would have axial tilts of 0° with no recognizable seasons.) It may also have sped up Earth’s rotation and initiated the planet’s plate tectonics.


I hope these help... a really exciting question ...

Answer 7

No,it was a flood that happend a long time ago. It went over the entire earth,causing over 1 million people to drown. it went on for 40 days and 40 nights. Luckily someone named Noah built a boat that could hold over more than 999 people and animals. It took Noah 102 years to build it. Seriously. After they built it,it started to rain (the rain made the flood) And he took 900 people and 2 of every animal created. After the rain,they landed on a rock and a Rainbow came over. That rainbow was the first rainbow seen. (this happend in B.C.) and that is all I can tell you.

Answer 8

Depending on the size of the moon, it might be possible. Publish your theory and amybe u will be the next einstein!

Answer 9

For Roman Soldier...its coulda ben the Arizona crater u know...
Its not like its impossible...for the question..i think it might be possible...but i will go with the asteroid theory .

Answer 10

duh - everybody knows the dinosaurs were killed by the flying spaghetti monster