The beautiful and mysterious Moon excited the minds of ancient thinkers long before the advent of modern astronomy. Legends were formed about her, storytellers glorified her. At the same time, many features of the behavior of the night star were noticed. Even then, people began to understand how the influence of the moon on the earth is expressed. In many ways, for ancient scientists, it manifested itself in the management of certain aspects of the behavior of people and animals, the impact on magical rituals. However, the Moon and its influence were considered not only from the point of view of astrology. So, already in the period of Antiquity, the relationship between the lunar cycle and the tides was noticed. Today, science knows almost everything about the impact of the night star on our planet.
General information
The moon is a natural satellite of the Earth. It is removed from our planet by 384 with a little thousand kilometers. Moreover, the night luminary circulates along a slightly elongated orbit, and therefore at different times the indicated figure decreases or increases somewhat. The moon makes one revolution around the earth inabout 27.3 days. At the same time, the full cycle (from the full moon to the new full moon) takes a little more than 29.5 days. This discrepancy has an interesting consequence: there are months when you can admire the full moon not once, but twice.
Perhaps everyone knows that the night luminary always looks at the Earth with only one of its sides. The far side of the moon has long been inaccessible to study. The situation was reversed by the rapid development of astronautics in the last century. Now there are sufficiently detailed maps of the entire lunar surface.
The Hidden Sun
The influence of the Moon on the Earth is noticeable in several natural phenomena. The most impressive of them is a solar eclipse. Now it is difficult enough to imagine the storm of emotions that this phenomenon caused in antiquity. The eclipse was explained by the death or temporary disappearance of the luminary through the fault of evil deities. People believed that if they did not perform certain ritual actions, they might never see sunlight again.
Today the mechanism of the phenomenon has been studied quite well. The moon, passing between the sun and the earth, blocks the path of light. Part of the planet falls into the shadow, and its inhabitants can observe a more or less total eclipse. Interestingly, not every satellite could do this. In order for us to periodically admire a total eclipse, certain proportions must be observed. If the Moon had a different diameter, or if it were located a little further from us, and only partial eclipses of the daylight could be observed from the Earth. However, there isthere is every reason to believe that one of these scenarios will materialize in the distant future.
Earth and Moon: mutual attraction
The satellite, according to scientists, moves away from the planet every year by almost 4 cm, that is, over time, the possibility of seeing a total eclipse will disappear. However, this is still a long way off.
What is the reason for the lunar "escape"? It lies in the peculiarities of the interaction of the night star and our planet. The influence of the Moon on earthly processes is primarily manifested in the ebb and flow. This phenomenon is the result of the action of the forces of gravitational attraction. Moreover, tides occur not only on Earth. Our planet affects the satellite in the same way.
Mechanism
Sufficiently close location makes the influence of the Moon on the Earth so noticeable. Naturally, that part of the planet, to which the satellite came closer, is attracted more strongly. If the Earth did not rotate around its axis, the resulting tidal wave moved from east to west, located exactly under the night star. The characteristic periodicity of ebbs and flows arises due to the uneven impact on some parts of the planet, then on other parts of the planet.
The rotation of the Earth causes the tidal wave to move from west to east and slightly ahead of the satellite. The entire thickness of the water, running a little ahead of the night star, in turn affects it. As a result, the Moon accelerates and its orbit changes. This is the reason for the removal of the satellite from our planet.
Some features of the phenomenon
Even before our era, it was knownthat the "breath" of the ocean is caused by the Moon. The ebbs and flows, however, were not studied very carefully until much later. Today it is well known that the phenomenon has a certain periodicity. High water (the moment when the tide reaches its maximum) is separated from low water (the lowest level) by about 6 hours and 12.5 minutes. After passing the minimum point, the tidal wave begins to grow again. Within a day or so, there are thus two high and low tides.
It was noticed that the amplitude of the tidal wave is not constant. It is influenced by the phases of the moon. The amplitude reaches its greatest value during the full moon and new moon. The lowest value occurs in the first and last quarter.
Daylength
Tidal wave generates not only the specific movement of ocean waters. The influence of the Moon on earthly processes does not end there. The resulting tidal wave constantly meets with the continents. As a result of the rotation of the planet and its interaction with the satellite, a force arises that is opposite to the movement of the earth's firmament. The consequence of this is a slowdown in the rotation of the Earth around its axis. As you know, it is the duration of one revolution that is the standard for the duration of the day. As the planet's rotation slows, the length of the day increases. It grows quite slowly, but every few years the International Earth Rotation Service is forced to slightly change the standard against which all clocks are compared.
Future
Earth andThe moon has been influencing each other for about 4.5 billion years, that is, from the day of its appearance (according to a number of scientists, the satellite and the planet were formed simultaneously). Throughout this period, as now, the night star moved away from the Earth, and our planet slowed down its rotation. However, a complete stop, as well as the final disappearance is not expected. The deceleration of the planet will continue until its rotation is synchronized with the movement of the moon. In this case, our planet will turn to the satellite on one side and “freeze” like that. The tidal waves that the Earth causes on the Moon have long led to a similar effect: the night star always looks at the planet with “one eye”. By the way, there are no oceans on the Moon, but there are tidal waves: they are formed in the crust. The same processes are taking place on our planet. Waves in the crust are subtle compared to the movement in the ocean, and their effect is negligible.
Accompanying changes
When our planet synchronizes its movement with the satellite, the influence of the Moon on the Earth will be somewhat different. Tidal waves will still be generated, but they will no longer overtake the night star. The wave will be located exactly under the "hanging" Moon and relentlessly follow it. At the same time, the increase in the distance between the two space objects will stop.
Astrology
In addition to physical impact, the ability to influence the fate of people and states is attributed to the Moon. Such beliefs have very deep roots, and the attitude towards them is a personal matter. However, there are a number of studiesindirectly confirming such an impact of the night star. For example, the media mentioned the data of analysts from one of the Australian banks. On the basis of their own research, they assert the fact of a noticeable influence of the phases of the moon on the change in the indices of world financial markets. But the influence of the moon on fish in the process of a special study was not confirmed. However, such scientific research requires careful verification.
We can hardly imagine our world without the moon. It certainly would not have ebbs and flows, and maybe even life itself. According to one version, its occurrence on Earth became possible, among other things, due to the specific influence of the Moon, which leads to a slowdown in the rotation of the planet.
Studying the influence of the satellite on the Earth helps to understand the laws of the universe. The interactions characteristic of the Earth-Moon system are not specific. The relations of all the planets and their satellites develop in a similar way. An example of the future that possibly awaits the Earth and its companion is the Pluto-Charon system. They have long synchronized their movement. Both of them are constantly turned to their “colleague” by the same side. A similar thing awaits the Earth and the Moon, but provided that the other factors affecting the system remain unchanged, however, this is unlikely in unpredictable space conditions.
