Why is the moon moving away from the Earth?

Question

I have heard it hundreds of times, but I can never remember the explanation. Would someone care to explain? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

you too would if you could..this not good place to stay

Answer 2

The moon is getting closer to the sun, or in other words it is moving away from the Earth but the rate is v. slow just 3.8 cm / year. This is because the Sun has more gravitational force than Earth.

Answer 3

yes, it's tidal forces.

the moon raises tides in the earth. this acts as a brake, slowing earth's rotation.

to maintain constant angular momentum, the moon moves further from earth. just like a figure skater slowing down their spin by putting their arms out.

Answer 4

tidal forces dissipate some of the orbital energy as heat. it's just conservation of energy.

Answer 5

Imagine holding a small weight tied to a string and swinging it in a circle over your head. To increase the weight’s pull you have to move your hand in a circle to lead the weight instead of holding your hand still.

The same happens with the Earth-moon system. The Moon causes ocean tides on Earth to bulge towards it. However, the Earth is revolving faster than the Moon orbits so the tidal bulge swings ahead of the Moons pull. The gravity of this off center bulge pulls the Moon to a higher orbit (and in the process slows the Earth’s rotation a little).

The Moon is moving away from the Earth about an inch and a half per year. The length of a day when the moon first formed was probably about 6 hours, and by 600 million years ago had reached approximately 21.9 hours. The maximum length of the day will be reached when the Earth rotates at the same speed the moon orbits. In other words, the day and the month will have the exact same length, somewhere near 47 of our present 24-hour days.

At this point, the moon will hang suspended above one hemisphere of the Earth and will disappear entirely from the sky for half of the world. But, relax, the sun will have gone out by then.

Answer 6

it has something to do with magnetic pulls, etc..... Who knows ? Something out there in space can happen that no scientist or psychic can ever calculate or envision.

Answer 7

In theory, the moon was formed when a Mars size object crashed into the Earth.  When this happened, that little bit of inertia kept the moon going.

In theory.