Of all the celestial bodies that attract our attention and fascination as astronomers, none has a greater influence on life on planet Earth than its own satellite, the Moon. When you think about it, we consider the Moon to be of such powerful significance that, unlike the moons of other planets to which we give names, we only refer to our one orbiting sphere as the Moon. It's not the moon. It's only one month for us.
In many cases, the moon is reflected in the way we think, in our feelings about romance, in our poetry and literature, and even in how we feel in our daily lives. Changes in moods, changes in social behavior and changes in weather are attributed to the Moon not only by primitive societies. Even today, the full moon can have a strong influence on these forces, which we recognize, even if we cannot explain it scientifically.
The most obvious physical phenomenon that is directly affected by the Moon's gravity is the tides of the ocean. Tides are an integral part of how marine life and the comings and goings of the fishing world are regulated in coastal communities. However, few people know that at certain times of the year, when the Earth's orbits bring the Sun and Moon into the correct position, a tidal effect can occur on inland bodies of water and even on the solid Earth. Ages ago, when the moon's orbit was closer to the earth, it was the effect of the moon that caused massive changes in the topography of the earth as well as continental drift. This reflects the Moon's strong influence on human history as well as global geographic history.
You may sometimes wonder where the moon came from. Was it a planet that traveled too close to Earth and got caught in our orbit? In fact, the prevailing theory in modern science is that the Moon was the result of a large collision with the still-evolving Earth early in its development, which caused this large "chuck" to separate into an orbiting body. This explains the similarity in composition, as confirmed by the many space missions to explore the moon carried out by NASA.
But this background also highlights another important influence of the Moon on the evolution of the Earth that is rarely recognized, and that is the stabilization of the Earth's orbital pattern. Most people know that the Earth is not round, but rather an egg-shaped sphere. Frankly, the Earth would wobble. Without the stabilizing influence of the Moon, this shape would shift dramatically, so the tilt of the axis, the polar cap, would shift dramatically with each seasonal rotation producing the climacteric, changing much more sharply and drastically than we are used to. It is possible that life as we know it could not have evolved here if the Moon was not there to "keep the Earth in line" and continue to stabilize the Earth's orbital position so that our climate could remain stable and mild.
The third major influence of the Moon comes from this origin, as it originates from a collision that "ripped" the body of the Moon from the Earth's evolving core. Because of this disruption in the evolution of our planet's core, metals that are normally intact in the planet's core are actually scattered up and down the Earth's geography in various ways. Usually, all the metals of a planet are concentrated deep in the core. But because of the collision that put the moon into orbit, the metals that were essential to the development of our industrial and technological cultures are readily available and easy to mine. This is again something we can thank the presence of that beautiful moon in the sky for.
You must be logged in to post a comment.