Does the Moon revolve around the Earth, or do they spin around each other as they revolve around the sun?

Question

The earth's moon is very large compared to other planetary moons in our solar system. I seem to remember an experiment in school which showed that the earth and moon spin around each other - part of the reason we only see one side of the moon. Little help?

Answer 1

The Moon revolves around the Earth. The Moon's has no rotation on its axis hence the same side of the moon is always facing the planet Earth.

That display you mention is a common visual representation of the motions of the two bodies.

Answer 2

There seem to be a large number of people who didn't get the main point of your question. Only one answer has actually mentioned the common centre of mass, which is correct. This common centre of mass, called the barycentre, is located within the Earth, because the Earth has about 80 times the mass of the Moon. What this means is that the orbit of the Moon around the Earth causes a small wobble in the Earth's motion. Pluto and Charon are so similar in mass that the barycentre lies in space between the two objects, resulting in Pluto doing a strange spiral dance as it orbits the sun.

The reason we see only one side of the Moon, however, is not related to this. It's a phenomenon called tidal lock. This might get complicated, but I'll try to keep it simple. Essentially the Earth's gravity distorts the Moon, creating a bulge. In the past, when the Moon was rotating faster, the spin of the Moon would carry the bulge away from the line between Earth and Moon. Earth's gravity pulls on the bulge, slowing the Moon's rotation. Eventually the Earth's gravity pulls the bulge sufficiently to keep the same side of the Moon facing Earth. keeping the bulge pointed directly to the Earth's centre of gravity. Note that the Moon is still rotating on its axis, just once every orbit.

Answer 3

Other moons are just as large. 1. The Moon revolves around the earth you were correct. 2. The Earth Revolves around the sun, again correct. The Moon spins on its axis about once each month keeping the same side pointed towards the earth. The Earth spins on its axis once each day this is why we have a sun rise and a moon rise every day.

Answer 4

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RE:
Does the Moon revolve around the Earth, or do they spin around each other as they revolve around the sun?
The earth's moon is very large compared to other planetary moons in our solar system. I seem to remember an experiment in school which showed that the earth and moon spin around each other - part of the reason we only see one side of the moon. Little help?

Answer 5

The moon revolves around the Earth and the Earth revolves around the Sun. The reason that we see the same side of the moon is because as the Earth makes its 24 hour rotation, the moon is making its revolution around us.

Answer 6

The moon revolves (orbits) around the earth. The earth revolves around the sun. The earth does not orbit the moon.

However, both the earth and the moon also revolve around/orbit what is known as the "barycenter", or the point at which their respective masses balance each other out.

You can read all about barycenters here -

http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/kids/barycntr.shtml

As for the reason why you see the same side of the moon -

It takes the moon the same amount of time to make one revolution around the earth as it takes for it to make one full rotation on its axis - the speed of revolution and rotation are in sync. This is why you only see one side of the moon.

Good explanations of the orbits, some more about barycenters, and also visualizations of it all can be found here...

http://library.thinkquest.org/29033/begin/earthsunmoon.htm

Answer 7

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yes... it does because the same side of it is always facing Earth. each time it revolves around the Earth it rotates once. (experiment time) find one person to do this with. one of you will be the Earth and the other is the Moon. the person that is the Moon will go around the person that is the Earth but only face in one direction (ie. if you are outside stay facing north while moving) person Earth will see every side of person Moon. now have person Moon go around Person Earth but stay facing Earth. Person Earth only see person Moons face. now keep person Moon moving the same way but have person Earth walk away, persom Moon will now be spinning.

Answer 8

the earth has its own revolving way around the sun and the moon has its own revolving path around the earth . Again with the rotation of the earth the moon is also rotating the sun because it is carrying with the earth and rotating round it. If you stand on the sun you will observe that the earth is rotating round the sun and the moon is rotating round the sun in a oscillation process.So at last you can say that the earth and the moon is not rotating round each other.

Answer 9

It looks like they spin around each other but only the moon spins around the earth, the earth revolves around the sun and not the moon

Answer 10

The earth and moon rotate around a common center of mass called the barycenter as they revolve around the sun. However, since the mass of the earth is about 80 times the mass of the moon, the barycenter is much closer to the center of the earth than the center of the moon. In fact, the barycenter is located within the earth, about 1707 km below its surface.

So if you watch the earth and moon orbit around their barycenter, the moon will appear to orbit around the earth while the earth just "wobbles" a little.

Here is a link that discusses the barycenter.

http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q665.html

Answer 11

The Moon orbits around Earth.