Does the moon affect the motions of the Earth?

1. 49

   Myn Is Meposted 13 years ago

   Does the moon affect the motions of the Earth?
   
   

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2. 61

   Mlssilvaposted 13 years ago

   The moon has a noticeable effect on the earth in the form of tides, but it also affects the motion and orbit of the earth. The moon does not orbit the center of the earth, rather, they both revolve around the center of their masses called the barycenter. The sun acts on the earth and its moon as one entity with its center at the barycenter. Since the earth revolves around the barycenter, which in turn orbits the sun, the earth follows a wobbly path around the sun. To complicate things further, the barycenter is not always in the same place due to the elliptical nature of the moon's orbit. The moon also changes the position of the earth's equinoxes. The sun and moon each attract the earth's equatorial bulge, trying to bring it into alignment with themselves. This torque is counteracted by the rotation of the earth. The combination of these two forces is a slow rotation of the earth's axis, which in turn results in a slow westward rotation of the equinoxes.

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3. 0

   Mr Knowitallposted 13 years ago

   The moon is very, very slowly checking the revolution of the earth round its own axis. For the moon is the main cause of the tides, which move from east to west while the earth turns from west to east. The friction between the water and the earth acts as a brake. But the slowing down is so extremely gradual that it lengthens our year at the rate of a second only in 100,000 years.

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4. 0

   Chad Banksposted 13 years ago

   Ocean tides are caused by the Moon As the moon moves around the Earth, its gravitational pull attracts the water of the oceans. When the Moon is above a certain point of the ocean it tends to pull the water at that. point away from the Earth and this causes a high tide. The moon also pulls the Earth away from the water at the other side of the Earth and this also causes a high tide. In between the two tides are low tides where the water has been pulled away. The amount that the tides rise and fall varies from place to place. The greatest tidal range is about 15 meters (50 feet) which occurs at the Bay of Fundy, in Eastern Canada. In France there is a large tidal range at the mouth of the River Rance and scientists have designed a special power station which harnesses the power of the tides. This is one way in which scientists are trying to tap new resources of power to help the world after fossil fuels run out.

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