Moon destroyed?

Question

If something were to happen in space that would completely obliterate the moon, what effect would that have on the Earth?
Can the Earth maintain itself without the moon?

Answer 1

The moon keeps the Earth spinning on its axis. It controls the seasons and the tides. Without the moon, the planet would wobble and the temperatures would go crazy. Earth would spin faster creating 4 - 6 hour days. The planet itself would still exist, but there would be no life. The temperatures would be too erratic to sustain life. Also, just a good trivia fact. The moon is actually moving away from the Earth. It always has been. It moves about 4 centimeters away every year.

Answer 2

If the moon were destroyed the Earth could not sustain itself. Here are the events that would take place (they may not be in order) The Earths bulge causing high tide and low tide would stop. The Earth would not hav an axis,because the moons gravity is what makes the Earth stay on its axis. The seasons would be no more. More likely we would have rain snow and sun in the same day also varying temps because the axis is what creates the seasons. The Earth would spin to fast Causing the days to be shorter and after that the Earth might die out.

Answer 3

The Earth itself would be fine, but things would change. The first thing would be the tides.... there would be none. Then the length of days would change. My guess would be that they would get shorter since the moon wouldn't be there to cause drag.

A little known fact- The moon someday will leave the Earth and go off on its own. It moves 3 inches further away from the Earth every year and at some point will be to far away for the Earth gravity to hold it.

Answer 4

Actually, I don't think there will be very many changes, but, in fact, a lack of changes. Like said before, tides would not exist.
I don't think days would actually get shorter, since the Earth has to actually speed up again to shorten days.

Other than that, there aren't any foreseeable changes for the worse, other than the sky getting exceptionally boring and some cultures needing a timekeeping revolution.

I think you people are mistaken that the moon keeps the Earth the way it is. In fact, the moon had a role in bringing Earth to it's current state, but nothing to do with keeping it in it's current state.

Answer 5

Contrary to popular believes planet or moons for that matter doesn't blow-up like you see in Star Wars or Star Trek. Mechanics of that magnitude make large bodies behave like large balls of Jell-O gelatin.

You see, if anything collides with the Moon it will just be absorbed by it.

Earth prime (the planet before Earth) was hit by another planet the size of Mars long time ago. Out of that collision came the Moon. Earth prime melted and reconfigured into the planet we know today.

It will be very difficult to obliterate the Moon.

Answer 6

the Earth would not would not spiral into the sun, nor would we weigh more or less.

There would be a noticeable change in the ocean's tides- all of which are influenced by the moon's gravity. The Earth's orbit would remain the same.

Answer 7

I saw on TV that if we had no moon everything will change.I think they said that plants might die because it'll be really hot. So without some food we really need that grows on trees I think we might die!

Answer 8

The earth's axis of spin would get erratic and our climate would change so much that life would disappear.

Answer 9

without the moon's gravity we would spiral into the sun.

Answer 10

YES IT CAN.