The Moon is Moving Away from the Earth

Is the Relationship Over?

The most beautiful thing in a clear, star studded sky...is a full moon. Generations, upon generations, of modern day man has enjoyed the spectacular event of the Earths’ full moon. Even before man...the moon was there. Scientist say the moon has been around for 4.5 billion years. Now, that’s a long time! They also believe both the Earth and the moon were formed at the same time, becoming locked in orbit with each other. Okay, you already know about the moons’ gravitational pull on the Earth. This is what causes our daily low and high tides, but the Earth also has a gravitational pull on the moon. This force pulls the moon, causing it to become distorted into the shape of an egg, and creating tidal bulges on the moons’ surface. The Earths’ constant pull on these tidal bulges caused the moons’ rotation to slow down from its’ faster rate, to its’ present rate of 29.5 days.

Now, the tidal bulges that are created on the Earth, by the moon, are not exactly located directly below the moon. Instead, they are located slightly ahead of the moon, and because the Earth is spinning faster than the moon, this causes the gravitational force on the tidal bulge to pull on the moon, slightly increasing its’ orbital velocity. When the moons’ orbital velocity increases, the Earths’ rotation slows. It’s this unique relationship between these two bodies, that is causing the moon to slowly move away from the Earth...about an inch a year. Although it’s not noticeable now, the scientist say in about a million years, the effects will be very noticeable.