Why is the moon not similar to earth?

Question

earth's orbit is just right to support life in conjunction with other factors...but so is the moon! why has the moon no atmosphere, water..ability to support life

Answer 1

Take a bite and see...:P

Answer 2

the Earths magnetic field shields us from the sun. It shields our atmosphere from being blown away into space. life as we know it needs an atmosphere and water which the moon cannot support

info:

the moon is drifting away from the Earth. soon the moon will look smaller and smaller...........

Answer 3

Why are you not similar to a cheese cake?

Answer 4

Because I live on the Moon but not on Earth!

Answer 5

Because it's made of CHEESE !!!

Silly !! lol

Answer 6

The moon is much smaller than the Earth, and thus has lower gravity, not enough to hold onto an atmosphere. Without an atmosphere, no water, no life.

Answer 7

the earth is not homogeneous, its elemental composition varies depending on where you look. there is the atmosphere, oceans, rocky crust and mantle, and metallic core. the moon is actually quite similar in elemental composition to the earth's mantle. this may be because the moon was formed as the result of a mars-sized body colliding with the earth and knocking off some of the earth's mantle into orbit.

Answer 8

the moon used to be a plnet that was near the sun a few million years ago. it collided with earth, but never escaped the gravity because of its mass comparison. plus, the moon's gravity is too weak to hold oxygen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and other gases essential for life, let alone form water.

Answer 9

The moon is much much smaller than the earth.  Gravity on the moon is about 1/6 that of earth - not enough to trap an atmosphere

Answer 10

The moon doesn't have the gravity to support an atmosphere and solar winds blow away whatever gasses it does attract because it has no magnetic field. The moon was very dry after its formation, but due to comets and asteroid falling to its surface it does have some. However this is in negligible quantities at the poles because the poles do not receive the same amount of sun light as the rest of the planet (sun light causes the water to split into oxygen and hydrogen which floats away).

Answer 11

The moon doesn't support life because of it's lack of water and an atmosphere which is due to gravity - the moon has a smaller mass (only 1/80 of Earth's).

Answer 12

The moon is just too small to support life. Not enough gravity to hold atmosphere, and no magnetic field to shield it from the deadly radiation of space.

Answer 13

Scientists actually believe the moon was once part of the earth.  A collision between a large meteorite and the earth caused the moon and large amounts of debris to be shot out in to space and to eventually, after 4.6 billion years, form the moon we see today.  The moon doesn't have an atmosphere today because of it's low mass and tidal effects of the earth.. Not to mention solar winds stripping it of any atmosphere it could possibly have.  The moon is mainly basalt, which is mainly igneous or volcanic in composition.  Hope this helps.

Just to add to what someone else said.  The moon could not have water.  A certain atmospheric pressure is required for water to be found in liquid form.  Otherwise, sublimination would occur.  Which means that water ice would change from ice to water vapor without ever being liquid water.  Same thing happens on Mars.

Answer 14

according to scientists, chance

according to religion, God.

Answer 15

Because, long ago when our solar system was created, planet X hit present day Earth and the moon branched off of it. The moon contains both rocks from Earth and planet X so it has not developed in the same way that Earth has.

Answer 16

The moon doesn't have enough gravity, due to its small size, to hold an atmosphere.  They are still checking, but it is believed that there is water ice under the surface.  Anyway, without an atmosphere, it couldn't support life.