What would happen to Earth if the moon disappeared?

Moment of Um

American Public Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 November 2023

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To us Earthlings, the moon is the ultimate cosmic chameleon. It’s always changing! Some nights it’s waxing, some nights waning, one day it’s full, and just two weeks later, it looks like there’s no moon at all. This is called a new moon, when the face of the moon is entirely in shadow. During a new moon, the moon doesn’t really go away. It’s just too dark to see. But… what would actually happen if we looked up at the night sky, and the moon was gone? We asked astronomer Chris Impey to help us find the answer.

Got a question that’s making you moonstruck? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and we’ll help you land on the answer!

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the brains behind brains on, this is the moment of um. Moment of Um, um, comes to you from APM Studios.
0:18.2	I'm the Moon.
0:20.2	And did you hear, my favorite band, Kuiper and the cosmonauts, are going on tour.
0:26.0	Um...
0:28.0	Oh, I can't wait. You probably know me as that big glowing orb in the night sky, but you might not know.
0:39.0	This moon is also a huge cosmo nut. I know all their songs, I have all their collectible bobbleheads, I even
0:47.7	bought Kuiper's belt. You really can find anything on the internet.
0:52.8	But I've never seen Kuiper in the Cosmonauts live.
0:56.6	I really, really, really want to go,
0:59.6	but the thing is, they're playing on Jupiter.
1:03.0	Ugh, your favorite band never comes to you, am I right?
1:07.1	I've never been to Jupiter.
1:08.6	I've never even left my orbit before.
1:11.2	I mean, seeing the geniuses who wrote the Space Walk Rock is a once in a lifetime
1:16.3	kind of thing. I bet it wouldn't be that bad if I stopped circling the Earth for a while,
1:21.5	right? Just long enough to hear a few songs.
1:24.5	My human friend Beatrix from San Diego, California. My question is, what would we do without the moon?
1:38.0	The big thing that would happen that anyone in a coastal area would notice is no tides.
1:46.0	The tides would go away.
1:47.0	My name is Chris Empey. I'm a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona.
1:52.0	So you'd have a little variation
1:55.0	because of the spinning of the earth
	...

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