When the moon has orbited the Earth once, how many miles has it gone?

Answer 1

The orbit of the moon is not exactly a circle, but we won't be far off the correct answer if we assume that the orbit is a circle. So, once around is just the circumference of a circle. Remember your math:

Circumference = 2piR where R is the radius. Right? Right!

For the moon, R = 240,000 miles (more or less).

So, Circumference = 2 x 3.14159 x 240,000 = 1, 507,963 (again, more or less).

So, the moon travels about 1.5 million miles. More or less.

HTH

Charles

Answer 2

You need a reference point. If the moon itself is the reference point, then it has gone 0 miles. If the Earth is the reference point, then the moon travels in something that is nearly, but not quite, a circle. If the sun is the reference point, the the path is again different. And if yet another reference point is chosen the path is again different. Basically the further you get from the Earth and away from the moon you get for a reference point, the less difference you notice in the path. Good luck! I hope you can approximate.