Why does the moon show more evidence of being struck than earth does?

Question

If both the moon and earth have been stuck by astroids. Why does the moon show more evidence of being struck than earth does?

Answer 1

the moon doesn't have any atmosphere to disintegrate anything that's going to hit it.

Answer 2

The moon has a very small amount of anything to protect it. The Earth has an atmosphere that allows most of the falling space particles to be incinerated upon entering. Also, the Earth has much more vegetation to hide impact sites, along with water. Most things from space land in the water, seeing as the Earth's surface is seventy percent H2O.

Answer 3

The earth has a protective atmosphere. A rock that makes it to the surface of the moon can burn up going to earth. Thats why the craters on earth are usually medium to large. Plus the natural growth of plants can conceal most impacts after a generation or tow.

Answer 4

The moon has much less of an atmosphere.
Therefore, the craters on the moon have not been eroded by wind, rain, snow, etc. Whereas, on earth craters are eroded fairly quickly.
Also, the thinner atmosphere allows more meteorites to strike the moon, while many simply burn up in the earth's atmosphere.

Answer 5

Because the earth is developed by mankind. All evidence off astroid impact has been covered over, except areas in the desert etc.

Answer 6

First, the moon does not have a fairly dense atmosphere like that on Earth. As a result, things shooting through space toward the Moon just barrel right on into it, instead of having most of them burn up on entry into the atmosphere.

Second, the moon is a dead planet with no water. On Earth we have water in the form of rainfall, rivers, oceans, lakes and small streams. Water in the form of rain is the principle soruce of erosion. Water from rain slips into cracks and crevices in rock formations to freeze under the right conditions and eventually crack apart exposed rock formations.

Wind whipped/driven sand is another source of erosion. Sand storms are like nature's sand paper and they gradually change the shape of most natural rock formations. There is no atmosphere and hence no wind on the Moon to drive the sand from its place of rest against the various rock formations.

The crust of the Earth is under constant stress and exhibits ever so slight movement over time. On occasion that movement gets out of hand and huge slips in position of the crust occur. Mountain ridges shoot up and huge valleys appear. Volcanos spew out molten lava at weak spots in the Earth's crust and that lava hardens into rock covering former features on the Earth's surface. There are no active volcanos or crust movements on the Moon. So, what was there stays there.

Lastly, vegetation has a way of covering and hiding a lot of the Earth's natural features. If you look closely, there is no vegetation on the Moon. So little is hidden from our long range cameras.

Answer 7

The surface of the moon really doesn't change other than from meteor impacts . It doesn't have an atmosphere, so there's no wind to blow stuff around, there's no water to erode craters, there's no vegetation or life forms present to break them down, and probably a whole host of other factors I don't know about.

Answer 8

because the earth had the right environmental effects and lively planet to recover these marks unlike the moon.. the moon is dead and nothing is happenin on it to recover

for example, the earth has volcanoes.. replenishes the rocks and filled holes.. plus our land masses have moved ALOT since the astroids were hitting

Answer 9

The moon does not have an atmosphere like the earth, therefor the smaller asteroids hit it instead of being burned up in it's atmosphere. Only larger asteroids actually make it to earth, but they usually hit it is smaller pieces.

Answer 10

not both of them get stucked by the same amount. This kind of question is too obvious. have you ever even the moon's surface with your own eyes or did you just look at the pictures you see on tv or the computer or some books?

Answer 11

I'm no astronomer or geologist, but I would say because the Earth is basically covered up, so evidence doesn't show. It is covered by forest, lakes, oceans, shifting sands....you get the idea.