essay 3

How The Moon Effects The Earth And The People On It

The most famous theory of the moons creation was thought out to be called the giant impact hypothesis. This proposes that the Moon was created out of the debris left over from a collision between the young Earth and a Mars-sized body. Due to the creation of the moon, the Earth and the people on it are affected in many ways, because of the moon the earth has changes in its ocean tides, a nice stable axial tilt, and total solar eclipses.

Ocean Tides are the result of the gravitational pull of the moon and the Sun. Although the moon is much smaller than the Sun, it is also much closer to the Earth so its effect is about twice that of the Sun (Spence 54-75).  Spring tides are when the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth are lined up. At this point the Sun and Moon reinforce each others gravity causing the tides to be more drastic, water levels are very high when the tide is in and very low when the tide is out (Garlick 74-114). Neap tides, by contrast, occur when the Moon, Sun and Earth form a triangle in space. At this time the gravities of the Sun and Moon cancel each other out by some degree, and the water levels are then at their least extreme (Cooley).

It is considered likely by many scientist that the current 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation is a relic of the oblique collision which produced the Moon we see today (Henney). Furthermore it is argued that the presence of the orbiting Moon has, help to keep this axial tilt of the Earth’s axis (Spudis). One of the significant consequences of the axial tilt is the creation of a variety of seasons (Whyte). The seasons are caused as the Earth, tilted on its axis, travels in a loop around the Sun each year. Summer happens in the hemisphere tilted towards the Sun, and winter happens in the hemisphere tilted away from the Sun (Metcalfe). If Earth had no tilt it is likely that the conditions would be a lot less stable, it could go from one extreme to the other. Thanks to the moon we have our steady tilt on Earths axis which produces seasons for the northern and southern hemispheres.

A total solar eclipse is another effect the moon has on the Earth. This happens up to twice a year, but you need to be in the path of totality to witness a total eclipse, and it is only about 100 miles wide and can be up to 10,000 miles long (Espenak ). A total solar eclipse happens when the moon comes directly in between the Earth and the Sun, and when the geometry is just right and you are in the path of totality, the moon blocks out the whole Sun, only leaving only the corona (Garlick 74-114). This is when scientist realized the importance of the total solar eclipse. When the Sun is blocked out scientist can observe the outer atmosphere of the Sun and this is when they discovered the dangers of Coronal mass ejections. Coronal mass ejections (CME’s) are explosions in the Sun's corona that spew out solar particles (Hathaway). CME's can seriously disrupt the Earths atmosphere and environment (Russell). Intense radiation from the Sun, which arrives only 8 minutes after being released, can alter the Earth's outer atmosphere, which can destroy long-distance radio communications. Energetic particles pushed along by the shock wave of the CME can put astronauts in danger, and fry satellite electronics (Hathaway). The actual coronal mass ejection arrives at the Earth one to four days after the initial eruption, resulting in strong geomagnetic storms, auroras and electrical power blackouts. Thanks to the moon and the total solar eclipses we now know about the dangers of CME’s and we can prepare for them. NASA now has satellites that mimic solar eclipses so the space administration can monitor the Sun at all hours and warn people of these storms so we can hopefully dodge a deadly blackout.

We may not know exactly how we got the moon we have today, weather it was a collision between Earth and a Mars sized body, or just the gravity luring in satellites closer to our planet, or maybe we just always had it. Either way, we know that we take the moon for granted and don’t realize how it effects the Earth and the day to day life we live on it. In the long run the moon gives us ocean tides, a stable tilt on Earths axis and a beautiful solar eclipse, which helped us realize the dangers that hide in the Suns corona.