What happens if moon disappeared

So what would happen to Earth , and us, if it promptly disappeared without notice? Would we survive it? Sadly, probably not. Many predators , like owls and lions, rely on the cover of darkness with just a bit of moonlight to hunt effectively.

With no moon, they would have trouble finding food. Rodents, on the other hand, tend to hide more when the moonlight is strong. With no moon, they would thrive. The next immediate difference would be the tides. Because the moon is so close to us, the pull of its gravity impacts our planet. A two-thirds reduction in tides would drastically alter coastal ecosystems, potentially destroying many of them and disrupting the flow of energy, water, minerals, and other resources.

Entire ecosystems exist in the ocean areas between high and low tides. In these spaces, many species of crabs, snails, barnacles, mussels, sea stars, kelp, and algae rely on the daily coming and going of the tide for survival. Numerous animal species have since developed depending on the moon.

They orientate themselves by its light at night or need the pale lighting to be active at all. And then of course there are the tides. Even the sun, which is times further away from the earth than the moon around million kilometers , tugs at our oceans due to its huge mass, but only about half as much. Without the satellite, the oceans and coastal areas could never have become as diverse as they are.

Some sea creatures orient their lives according to the tides: turtles and horseshoe crabs, for example, are washed ashore with the tide to lay their eggs there. The tides clearly show how strong the moon is.

The maximum tidal range on the Canadian Atlantic coast is sometimes a proud 21 meters. The land masses rise when the moon is full.

This is neither visible nor noticeable, but this process means that earthquakes occur more frequently on full and new moon. Statistics also prove it. The moon moves away from the earth slowly but steadily. It is currently moving away from us by almost four centimeters each year. Tides on the far side. From the perspective of someone standing on Earth, it looks like that ocean is rising up, but really it just doesn't get to join the party.

And there you have it: two tides on opposite sides of the Earth. If the moon disappeared, we wouldn't be totally out of tidal luck; the sun also stretches and squeezes the Earth, so our surfing opportunities wouldn't be completely eliminated.

The Earth used to spin on its axis faster than it does today. As in, way faster. After the hypothetical giant impact that led to the formation of the moon which is the topic for a completely different article, sorry, but at least you can watch me explain it in this video , the Earth's day was as short as 6 hours.

How did it get to a leisurely 24? That's right, it was the moon! The moon makes some pretty nice tides, but the Earth is also spinning on its axis. That spinning physically drags the tidal bulges around the planet. So instead of the tides appearing directly beneath the moon, they're slightly ahead of it, orbitally speaking. So you've got a big lump of extra ocean water in a place where it's not supposed to be. Since gravity is a two-way street, that lump pulls on the moon.

Like tugging a reluctant dog on a leash, that tidal bulge yanks on the moon bit by bit, accelerating it into ever-higher orbits. By the way, the moon is slowly getting farther away from Earth. And that energy to accelerate the moon has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is the Earth itself: Day by day, millennium by millennium, the Earth slows down, converting its rotational energy into the moon's orbital energy.

That might or might not be a good thing, depending on how much you like the length of your workday. The Earth's axis is tilted, and that tilt can change with time. No biggie, all the planets do it; it's fun.