2007-04-26 03:42:49 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
I actually read something saying that the moon is getting closer to us and will eventually it's orbit will spiral into us (millions of years).
2007-04-26 03:46:44 · answer #1 · answered by jcann17 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Yes its getting away
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. The average center-to-center distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,403 kilometres (238,857 miles), which is about 30 times the diameter of the Earth. The Moon has a diameter of 3,474 kilometres (2,159 miles)[1] — slightly more than a quarter that of the Earth. This means that the volume of the Moon is only 1/50th that of Earth. Its gravitational pull is about a 1/6th of Earth's. The Moon makes a complete orbit around 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, and the centrifugal forces generated by the rotation of the Moon and Earth around a common axis, the barycentre, is largely responsible for the tides on Earth. The energy dissipated in generating tides is directly responsible for the reduction in potential energy in the Moon-Earth orbit around the barycentre, resulting in a 3.8 cm yearly increase in the distance between the two bodies. The Moon will continue to move slowly away from the Earth until the tidal effects between the two are no longer of significance, whereupon the Moon's orbit will stabilize.
(some scientists believe it will go away and leave earth's gravity which will destabilize the axis and the climate shall change and we shall die)
2007-04-26 10:49:11 · answer #2 · answered by SuNiL 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm amazed at how many people answer questions here with such decisiveness and don't know what the hell they're talking about. Yes, the orbit increases in radius about 1.5 inches a year because of interactions with the earth's tides
2007-04-26 10:53:10 · answer #3 · answered by Gene 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes it moveing about 1" a year from earth.
2007-04-26 10:56:12 · answer #4 · answered by Dallas S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All orbits spiral inward due to gravitational entropy, and not outward.
2007-04-26 10:48:42 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
no, but it is slowing the rotation of the earth on its axis, the day is getting longer
2007-04-26 10:49:29 · answer #6 · answered by Durai 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Only if your driving away from it.
2007-04-26 10:46:23 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋