Why is the moon so important for the developement of life?

Question

I have heard several arguments about the Earth being a rarity in the universe and our moon is given as a rare characteristic that is essential for advanced life to flourish... why?

Please compare what Earth would have been like today if there had been no moon to what the Earth is like with one.

Answer 1

the moon its believed was instrumental in the creation of life because back when the earth was baron and lifeless the moon was alot closer today causing massive waves in the ancient ocean's , this is believed is what turned non living matter into living matter although this has never been proved , just a theory

the earth would be a very different place without the moon we would have none or very little tides , we wouldn't have life and even if we did it could have been destroyed by one of the passing comet/asteroid that the moon would have been hit by if it were their , also we probably wouldnt have had space programs.

i could search the Internet and find more but this is all off the top of my head.

Answer 2

Besides creating ocean tides, it keeps the earth stable. Earth doesn't wabble back and forth dramatically because of the moon. The moon keeps Earth stable at a 23 degree angle. So climate is more stable, instead of swinging from really hot to really cold.

Answer 3

Being that we are not a gas giant, but a small rocky planet, having a moon as large as we do, might, MIGHT be a rarity.  In fact, we are as close to being a binary planet system as we are a planet with a satellite.  The moon creates significant tides.  This creates an intertidal zone where there are rocks and sand that are half the time submerged and half the time exposed to the atmosphere.  It may have been this zone that was crucial in allowing life that could exploit the land to evolve.

Answer 4

The Moon is a meteor deflector. Without the oceans current movement it possibly would all freeze...

Answer 5

If it wasn't for the sun's heat and the moon's gravity and orbit, the sea would be still, and thus, life would have a harder time developing.

Answer 6

Here is a cut from space.com.   I was just watching a BBC documentary that mentioned the vital importance of the moon in stabililzing our orbit, but I've forgotten the particulars.  Hence this cut and paste job:

The Moon has had dramatic effects on our planet and the life that inhabits it, researchers believe. The Moon stabilizes Earth's rotation, for example, preventing otherwise dramatic movements of the poles that would fuel climate swings that some scientists figure might have doomed any chance for life to form, let alone evolve.

And biologists speculate that tidal regions would have been a logical place for life to originate. Sea creatures might have  used tidal regions as experimental sites for testing the habitability of land, and therefore as an excuse to develop lungs.