What would happen to Earth if the moon were to leave the orbit of our planet?

1cyprus

There would be a vast diference in tides,they wouldn't stop entirely bacause the sun also affects them. It would also be much darker on most nights. http://www.virtualnjshore.com/tbwaves.html May 20 07, 6:14 AM

Baloo55th

Most people in 'civilised' areas wouldn't notice the difference at night, expecially in those areas subject to quite a bit of cloud. Where there are street lights, people don't notice moonlight. There would most probably be a change to the length of the day and the year. The year fairly certainly. The Earth's orbit is determined by its mass and speed. But it's not just the Earth - we are in a 'binary' system with the moon. The loss of the moon would mean a lower mass for the Earth unit, and a corresponding movement outward until a new stable orbit was reached. May 20 07, 9:45 AM

Arpeggionist

The orbit of the Earth is stabilized by the Moon. Without the Moon, our orbit would be much more erratic than it is. Weather patterns and even seasonal patterns would be unpredictably affected. May 20 07, 9:52 AM

star_gazer

The effect on the tides would be so great that there would be major flooding destroying many large cities that are on ocean coasts. May 20 07, 9:59 AM

collect

Um -- since the major cities are not flooded by the existing high tides, and a lack of tides would (presumably) give levels below the current high tides, there ought to be no major flooding. May 20 07, 10:05 AM

tragic_flawed

The Earth would go flying out of orbit and plummet into the Sun. May 20 07, 11:06 AM

star_gazer

Even during a high tide there is a gravitational pull from the moon affecting the water, high tide is just a weaker effect than a low tide. Take away the moon and there is no affect - hence flooding. May 20 07, 12:16 PM

collect

http://www.scienceisart.com/B_Tides/TidesMain.html With no disrespect intended to anyone whatsoever. "The figure on the left shows the position of the moon during a lunar winter for San Francisco, which I used illustrators license to indicate as a green island on the blue ocean. The circular dashed line indicates sea level if there was no moon, the horizontal dark blue bulges indicate high tides, and the vertical lighter zone around the middle of the earth marks the low tide. The pull of the moon has distorted the surface of the water to form a blunt football, an ellipsoid. In San Francisco, we would experience a modest high tide, a low tide, a large high tide, and a second low tide equal to the first one. A daily tidal pattern with unequal highs or lows is called mixed." May 20 07, 12:57 PM

zbeckabee

The moon is largely responsible for the tides. The pull of the moon, and ebb and flow of the tides, puts the brakes on Earth's daily rotation. Without the moon, earth's rotation would speed up and wind patterns would likely be stronger and longer lived. It is not much of a leap to suggest that there would be flooding caused by gale force winds. But, my favorite change would be found within our moon-oriented vocabulary: Gone would be the days of mooning! http://starryskies.com/articles/dln/1-01/no.moon.html May 20 07, 12:57 PM

darkpresence

The moon is already moving away, albeit at a very slow rate. http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=2195 May 20 07, 3:18 PM

MonkeyOnALeash

Tides being relaxed would NOT flood coastlines or anywhere. The melting of the ice cap, North Pole would NOT flood coastlines. What would have happened had the Chicken never crossed the road? It does not matter. The Chicken did and the Moon is here to stay. Billions and Billions (say it like Sagan) of years from now, the orbital planes in which EVERYTHING travels will have collapsed. May 21 07, 1:41 AM

MonkeyOnALeash

Then one might worry! May 22 07, 2:45 AM