If the moon's orbit was not elliptical, what could probably happen?

Answer 1

With no elliptical orbit there would be no gravitational effect for high tide or low tide the oceans would stay constantly violent, and also there would be no seasons as we know it, it would be one constant season, the days, weeks, months and years would be much different than it is now, then the effect it would have on the sun would come into question concerning the Autumnal and Vernal Equinox, there would be no such thing as Summer and Winter Solstice the effect it would have on all living things? who knows, it would take research on the life's effect of it if it isn't already been done. Very good question my dear comrade you have just done away with Day Light Saving Time.

Answer 2

The Moon is NOT being pulled further away by the Sun's gravity. Think about it: the Moon and the Earth are at about the same distance from the Sun, with tiny monthly variations. The Sun IS pulling the Moon, but it's also pulling the Earth with very nearly the same force per kilogram. That means that the centripetal acceleration of the Moon is the same as the centripetal acceleration of the Earth, and one isn't moving toward the Sun faster than the other. Besides, if that were the explanation, you would expect to see the Moon's orbit becoming more elongated toward the Sun. But the Earth-Moon distance is growing all around the Moon's orbit, so there must be another factor at work. The Moon causes a tidal bulge in Earth's oceans, meaning that water facing toward and away from the Moon is stretched out a bit. The effect isn't much, compared to the diameter of the Earth, but it's real. If the Earth were not rotating, the tidal bulge would line up perfectly with the Earth-Moon line. However, the Earth IS rotating, and it sweeps the tidal bulge forward a tiny bit. Because the mass of the tidal bulge is "ahead" of the Moon, it causes the Moon to accelerate in its orbit. A higher orbital speed means a larger orbit, and so every century the Moon moves a little bit further out due to tide-induced acceleration. Of course, kinetic energy can't just be created like that. As the Moon gains kinetic energy, it robs it from the Earth. Due to the Earth's tidal interaction with the Moon, the Earth's day is also slowly getting longer. We won't see any noticible change in our lifetimes, but in a few million years we'll have to invent new clocks if we're still around as a species.

Answer 3

I'm not sure what you mean.

Do you mean what would happen if the orbit were circular? Well a circle is a subset of all ellipses, so it would be an ellipse even if it were a perfect circle.

Do you mean what would happen if the orbit were highly eccentric? If that were the case, the tides on earth would have stranger patterns and probably be more extreme (lower low tides, higher high tides).

All 2-body model orbits are elliptical -- there are no other orbital shapes. There are some minor pertubations to the moon's orbit due to other bodies (sun, venus, mars, asteroids, etc.), but the gross shape is always some sort of ellipse.

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Answer 4

It would shortly become elliptical is all I can say. There are no perfectly circular orbits. If it did happen to have that kind of orbit, the change would be barely noticeable.

The amount that the orbit is off of a perfect circle is almost negligible.

Answer 5

The Earth/Moon would be a binary system like Pluto with its two moons! We would orbit the moon and the moon would orbit us at the same time!

Answer 6

ummm... it would be circular ?
dduhhh...
earth-moon is really a two planet system, moon is quite large, so in systems like that only one side of the orbiting moon is visible to occupants of the planet... why ? the rotational and orbital periods of the moon are identical, it happens in a dual planet systems, such as ours...

Answer 7

Nothing would happen, the moon would just look the same size all the time.

Answer 8

Actually all orbits are elliptical none are true circular.

Answer 9

The moon would smash into the earth

Answer 10

the moon would be a star