Being so close to the earth why couldn't the Moon have developed life?

Question

This is something that just occured to me recently but since the Earth is at just the right distance from the sun (93 million miles) and had the right conditions for life developing (being neither too hot or cold like the other planets) why couldn't the same have happened on the Moon?

The Moon is approximately 240,000 miles from the Earth. That little closer distance to the Sun couldn't have made that much of a difference. There must be some other reason as to why an atmosphere and other conditions needing life to evolve did not occur on the Moon.

Answer 1

In order to have sufficient gravity to sustain a sizeable atmosphere, an iron core is required. An iron core also creates a magnetosphere to protect against radiation harmful to life. Some moons are too small, others are captured asteroids, others such as those revolving the outer gas giants in our solar system may have potential conditions to support life. The key lies in how our moon, the Moon, was formed. The Giant Impact which occured after the Earth's iron core had already settled to the inside of our planet. The collision tore away mostly mantle materials (low in iron) which then coalesced to form the Moon. Low iron core = low gravity = very little atmosphere = less chance for life to develop.

Answer 2

do not understand that i can do justice to this one, yet right it is an excellent e book reference: What If The Moon did not Exist?, by using Neil F. Comins right this is the Amazon assessment: The thinking call of this e book feels like the made from a baby's naive interest. easily, although, that's completely a risk that a moon ought to not have formed in Earth's orbit, and without our nearest astronomical neighbor this planet might have been a quite distinctive international certainly. as an occasion, without the moon's gravitational impact upon the Earth's tides, the planet might rotate extensively speedier so as that an afternoon might final approximately 8 hours. Astronomer Comins considers numerous the two attainable and the two eye-catching planetary eventualities. case in point, what if the Earth had much less mass? What if a megastar exploded close to the Earth? What if the Earth's ozone layer have been depleted? In doing so, he has produced an somewhat witty, relaxing, and concept-scary artwork of commonly used technological know-the way it extremely is optimal for best college, public, and undergraduate library collections alike. cautioned. - Gregg Sapp, Montana State Univ. Libs., Bozeman

Answer 3

It is possible that the moon once had life aquired from earth. Unfortunately the moon cannot support life...so any life transfered from earth to the moon would die. Its not only the location of earth that makes life possible. Its also the size and the type of material the earth is made of that plays into how life evolved here. If earth wasnt massive enough to maintain an atmosphere...there would be no life here. If theres no atmosphere on earth...there's no water on earth...which also means no life. To show you how distance from the sun is only a part of how life came to be on earth...Mars has a better chance of supporting life then the moon does and its ALOT further from the sun then the moon is. Its mass and atmosphere give it more of a chance to support life then our moon, which lacks sufficient mass and any atmosphere to speak of.

Answer 4

besides not having water that gives everything life in our awesome little planet. The moon also doesnt have an atmoshere to support life. The reason for this is because the moons gravity is not strong enough to keep the atomshere and therefore escapes into space. The moon is just a big pile of rock and doesnt have what the earth has, a hot red core of iron called magma!

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Answer 5

The moon is not big enough to hold onto any atmosphere it might once have had. Gas is very light and so gravity only has a very weak hold over it, and the moons gravity is very feeble indeed. Even the Earth's gravity is not sufficient to hold onto hydrogen - the lightest gas - hence there's hardly any in our atmosphere.

Another thing the moon lacks is a magnetic field. This is necessary for life as we know it as it protects us from harmful solar radiation.

So, no atmosphere and no magnetic field = bad news for life

Answer 6

Requirement For Life:



The necessary and in our view, sufficient criteria for the appearance of life are the presence of

1) A fluid medium, 2) Source of energy, 3) Constituents and conditions compatible with polymeric chemistry.

Key assumptions are that



(1) Life arises quickly under appropriate formative conditions.



(2) Life remains static in stable environment or adopts to changing environments.



Carbon appears to be only element capable of forming polymers that readily undergo chemical alternations under the physical conditions prevailing on earth. Whenever living things exist they are likely to be carbon bases, dependant on a supply of liquid water and the presence of suitable oxygen mediating enzyme system.


Moon [Water : No evidence of water, Energy by Solar radiation (light & Heat), Possibility of Life : Remote-extremely dry: no protective atmosphere.]
And the less mass of the moon due to less size is also a reason.The atmospheric level in the moon is very less and thus is open to outside forces like solar winds,high temperatures etc..
Plus there is not enough matter like iron,oxygen,carbon and hydrogen that are the basic constituents of life

This means that moon does not have the elements to support life so if u go their u will probably melt due to solar radiation or freeze due to cold climate.

So Moon does not and cannot contain life.

Answer 7

The moon is much less dense, and with gravity only 1/6th that of Earth, it couldn't retain an atmosphere. Because of it's light weight, and the fact that it has no internal heat, no magnetic field, and no way to retain an atmosphere, there was very little chance of it developing life.

Answer 8

There is no atmosphere or water on the moon. All of the gases escape into space. Therefore, there would be nothing to breathe. If there was an atmosphere and water then it would be possible.

Answer 9

Go here. It's about a theoretical "moon" or Earth's "sister planet" named Orpheus (or Theia) that may have contained water and life. Of course, it's all theoretical, but it's interesting to think about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_impact_hypothesis

Answer 10

The size of the moon is the factor not its distance. Its mass is much less and gravity of moon is only one sixth and all gases escaped moon long ago.