stopping the moon's revolution?

Question

I'm writing a story similar to that of the new movie 30 Days of night. I need to know what would happen if the moon was hit by some space debris stopped moving, and turned around during the full moon phase. I hope that is a plausable question. THanks a bunch!

oh and how would you solve the problem of the moon stopping in less than 30 days?

turned around as in the dark side of the moon is exposed to us

and I know its almost impossible but thats the good part about fictional writing... it doesn't need to be possible

Answer 1

This is highly implausible; laughably so.

In order to, as it were, "stop" the Moon in it's orbit, it would have to be hit by something of comparable size, at exactly the right speed, exactly the right time, and exactly the right angle.

For example, this would be like throwing a basketball, and then trying to hit it in flight, dead center, with a softball from the opposite direction. Then, hoping you could get the combined momenta of the two to exactly cancel and make them "drop dead" out of the air. Now, try the same stunt with a pair of "BB's";(the moon is a very small target compared with the entire solar system...)

Now, there aren't any asteroids or comets bumbling around in the vicinity of Earth's orbit, that even remotely compare to the size of the Moon. The only large enough asteroids or minor planets, lie between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter, or outside the orbit of Pluto.

However, given that there were, and given that the hypothetical asteroid hit the moon under exactly the right conditions, then the impact would certainly pulverize both bodies.

But, assuming that they weren't destroyed, now you don't have one Moon, but two. Worse, without centrifugal force to balance out Earth's gravity, both bodies would now start hurtling earthward.

On the other hand, fiction is by definition, not concerned with "physical facts..." Movie producers don't hire "physics consultants" from universities, to tell them their special effects have no basis in reality. People only complain about bad science, when it was a worthless story to begin with; just because a writer gets his facts straight, doesn't make for a great story.

A story is basically just a long series of "this happened, then this happened, then this happened...etc,etc." I think that most people aren't interested in *overall* logical consistency; they are not interested in the "facts", they just want to know "what happens next." They want to know that "this means something...."

Just don't take a central premise which is scientifically silly, weave a story around it, and write as if the reader is supposed to take it seriously.........as if, "this could happen tomorrow........" (this is why disaster movies are doomed to failure...)

~W.O.M.B.A.T.

Answer 2

That would be almost impossible, because it would take something nearly as large as the moon itself. And if something that big hit the moon, both would break apart into pieces. Sorry, I hate to spoil your story premise, but it's not plausible because the moon has so much mass.

Thing of a sumo wrestler running at full tilt and getting hit by a gnat. That's more relative force than would be exerted by any sort of man-made debris we could throw at the moon.

It also doesn't matter if the moon stops turning, anyway. The moon changes phases not because of it spinning about its axis, but because of its motion around the earth. Shine a flashlight at a globe and move a ball in a circle around it, and imagine yourself standing on the globe and looking at the ball. You can then see why we see the phases: it's because the light is shining from the direction of the sun, but we're seeing the moon from different angles at it moves around us.

But here's another idea. The moon always keeps the same face towards the earth, and this is because the time it takes to spin around its axis is the same as the time it takes to do an orbit around the earth. Maybe place your story on another planet that has one day equal to one year, taking a year to spin on its axis as it moves around its sun (make it a spooky red sun). One side always light, one side always cold and dark...try that for a premise!

Answer 3

ok well first of all
why write a story like 30 days of night if theres already on like it?
if the moon was hit by something likelyness of it stopping is slimm to none bc it would be launched forward..
and if it STOPPED moving it couldnt turn to the full moon phase.
so no this question makes NO sence whatsoever.
sorry

Answer 4

this question doesnt make a lot of sense.

if the moon is hit by space debris... and it stops moving? in its orbit? if it had no orbital velocity, it would fall onto Earth, but the force needed would shatter it.

You then say 'stopped moving, and turned around'... now, that is even harder to understand.

how about a clarification?

(i dont watch many movies, sorry)

Answer 5

don't quite get your question, the moon has two main movements, rotation and traslation, if the moon stops rotating (on it own axis) the main effect is that we will be able to see the dark side of the moon from earth for first time in human's history, and I think that's all (I'm no astronomer).

but if the moon stops it traslation move (around the earth) its orbit will decay being pulled by earth gravity and with no centrifuge force to balance, it will come and crash on earth, probably killing everyone and everything in this planet.

Answer 6

well, I dont kno what all effects it would have, but I do know that one effect it would have, would be the oceans tides going out of control and causing huge tsunami waves, which would then have their own drastic effects on the planet.

As for how to stop it, NASA could launch rockets in to space that would attach to the moon and then would pop open parachutes (similar to what drag racers use to slow themselves down) that would suck up solar energy from the sun, thusly moving the moon back on to its original course.

Sounds like a good idea for a story though.

Answer 7

From what I know, the moon doesn't rotate on it's axis.
If it was to revolve the opposite way, I would think that would possibly cause natural disasters like storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.
Modern day technology is in capable of doing anything.
If the moon rotated on it's axis, we would be able to see the dark side of the moon from earth.

Answer 8

Scientifically, the tides would be all messed up. It would mess up ocean life, among other things.