a question about moon?

Question

i wanted to know what actually happens in the moon??
or what do we actually observe??how does it take place??
we see that moon changes it's shape daily....as suchon 1day it is full &after 15 days it disappears...how does it happen
i don't think that the moon originally changes its shape...
so what happens out i want to know the truth & logic behind such an appearance

Answer 1

Imagine you're in a dark room, with a strong light shining sideways about 20 feet away from you. Now turn your back to the light, and hold a ball out in front of you, and up above your head so that the light hits the entire side you're looking at. That's a full moon - the sunlight shines on the side you see.

Now turn sideways to the light, and hold the ball out in front of you. The light hits the side of the ball closest to the light, and you see half of the ball in light, and half in dark. That's a waxing or waning moon.

Now turn towards the light, and hold the ball up. You don't see any light on it, because the light is on the far side of the ball. That's a new moon.

If you stand there and turn, holding the ball out, you can see all the phases of your moon in about 10 seconds. If you hold the ball directly between you and the light, so that the light is hidden from you, you've recreated a solar eclipse. Turn around and put the shadow of your head on the ball, and you've recreated a lunar eclipse.

Answer 2

Get an orange or a grapefruit to represent the moon. Stick a pin in it on one side to help you keep the same side facing the earth. Now darken a room and leave only one lamp on in one corner to represent the sun. Do this at night and/or close all the curtains and the doors.

Now stand in the middle of the room and hold the grapefruit out in front of your face at arm's length. Slowly turn around so that the grapefruit is first between you and the lamp, then off to one side, then away from the lamp, and then off to the other side. As you do this, you will see all the phases of the moon represented by the way the lamp illuminates the surface of the grapefruit.

When the fruit is between you and the "sun," you will see the "new moon." When the fruit is on the opposite side of you from the "sun," you will see the full moon. And so at each other position.

If this simple experiment does not make it clear, then there is no way we can help you.

The earth's shadow has nothing to do with the phases of the moon, and people who post answers about things they don't know about are not helping anybody, and should stay away.

Answer 3

When you look at the Full Moon, you see a tiny bit more than 49% of it (50% is the theoretical limit if you consider the distance too large to be a factor). If two (or three) people observe the Moon at the same time, but from very different positions on Earth's surface, they can see (putting their images together) a little over 52%. By comparison, a third is only 33%. With libration, over long periods of time, we can see almost 60% of the Moon's total surface. When the Moon appear "half" lit, we call the phase "Quarter Moon" because this happens when the Moon is a quarter of the way around its orbit.

Answer 4

The size of the Moon doesn't really change. What we actually see are phases of the Moon, from a new moon (when see its silhouette) to the full moon about 14 days later. These phase changes occur because the Moon orbits the Earth every 28 days. The Sun rises on the Moon and sets 14 days later from any point on its surface. Standing on the Moon and looking Earthward, you would witness the same phase changes. You'd see a "new Earth" and two weeks later a "full Earth" and two weeks later a "new Earth" again.

Answer 5

It is a sphere and sunlight shines on it from one side. So it is like a ball painted black on one side and white on the other side. You can't usually see the dark side at all, except when it is a thin crescent. When the angle between the Sun and Moon is such that the side facing Earth is partly light and partly dark. The dark part just looks like it is missing because you can't see it. It just blends in with the black sky behind it.

Answer 6

I can't sit here and entertain you with a half-hour dissertation on the Moon. You need to look up the subject in Wikipedia, NASA and other informational websites.

Get a clue as to how broad a question you are asking. Know the scope of the question should be more focussed.

Don't ask for the Moon. (Ha, I kill me.)

Answer 7

It all depends where the sun, moon and you are when you observe the moon. See the linked animation for phases of the moon.

Answer 8

The moon goes through a cycle that take about 27-29 days. Where, as it goes around the earth, and earth casts a shadow, therfore producing the changing shpes you see night to night

Answer 9

the changing shape of the moon is because the moon is passing into and out-of the shadow of the earth.
what you are seeing is what the sunlight hits and reflects back to your eye.
i hope that helps.

Answer 10

It is the shadow of the earth and it,s angle in relation to the sun that causes the change,s in the view of the moon.