What if the moon got blown to pieces?

[thethingthatlurks]

...the absence of the moon would mean no more tides.

... the tides... or lack of them.

...than the tides would get so fucked up...

The sun has more of an effect on the tides then the moon. If you think for a second it should be readily apparent the moon is not the sole source of the tidal action as otherwise there would be much less change between the highest high tides and the lowest low tides. The only reason there is a noticeable tidal effect from the moon is because of how close it is. Neap Tides are what happens when the moon is on the opposite side of the Earth as the sun. You get relatively minor low and high tide changes because the sun slightly wins out over the tidal pull of moon. A spring tide is when you have a new moon and the sun and moon combine their tidal effect, you have very high, high tides and very low, low tides.

Every few years you get a Proxigean Spring Tide because the earth is at it's closest point in the orbit to the sun, and both the moon and sun are acting together on the tides.

The gravity of the moon is what stabilizes the earth's rotation, and without it would turn out of control. That is, the planet would no longer rotate around a (relatively) straight line, but would wobble to the point that the magnetic poles would face the sun at times.

Wait! What? I... I. What are they teaching you kids in school these days?

And that's why one shouldn't open one's mouth (metaphorically) in the middle of the night. Yeah, the sun's gravitational effect on earth is about 1000 times greater than the moon's, according to data from wiki and a rushed approximation I just did after waking up. Another thing that one shouldn't do...

 

[Dapsen]

We would get dead very fast, methinks.

 

[ICanBreakTheseCuffs]

No more Moon pies!

tehehe

 

[EBHughsThe1st]

Then Sonic would have to stop the Space Colony Ark from hitting us.

 

[ICanBreakTheseCuffs]

I don't know about after but I do know what I would say before and during the explosion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUX8w_gAZqo&feature=related

If shadow did it then this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7usg13uZCs&feature=related

 

[Tharwen]

Someone would release [a href="http://www.shatteredhorizon.com/"]a game about people flying around the moon-debris in spacesuits with lasers[/a], and no-one would play it!

 

[Aptspire]

You mean what if most of the mangas and video game plots come true?
hum...no tide cycle

 

[PatrickXD]

Well, cheese prices would go through the roof... *ba dum tish*

 

[TheDoctor455]

To slightly misquote Alistair from Dragon Age:
"We soil our drawers, that's what."

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

We would be in deep crap.
Our tides would go crazy and most likely the moon fragments would fall on us.

 

[PhantomCritic]

If the debris doesn't kill us, the unstable climate would. Put simply, we would be screwed.

 

[Jedamethis]

[unimportant symbols]

Oooooh, big avatar...

OT: What everyone else said.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Tides would be fucked, thus the whales would attack us.

Shit! Someone get Neonbob!

I have no idea, but surely lots of it would hit us? And there goes our cheese supplies too.

 

[Ronnor56]

There's an old cat saying which has particular relevance here.

It goes something like this:
"We are all gonna die."

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Yea, we'd all die.

The more important question would be how?

From the chunks slamming into the Earth?

From the Earth's orbit being thrown out of whack?

From uncontrolled tides?

From accidently releasing Rita from her 10,000 year imprisonment?

 

[Rofl-Mayo]

Tides would be messed up, weather would be affected and there would be no more night... which would completely suck. Plus there's the chance of large fragments striking Earth, thus killing us. Yeah, we'd be pretty much screwed.

 

[Unesh52]

The gravity of the moon is what stabilizes the earth's rotation, and without it would turn out of control. That is, the planet would no longer rotate around a (relatively) straight line, but would wobble to the point that the magnetic poles would face the sun at times.

Wait! What? I... I. What are they teaching you kids in school these days?

I definitely remember learning about the stabilizing effect of the moon in astronomy, and I definitely remember studying the effect on global climate given different orientations of the earth relative to the sun. Not that I'm an expert or something, but in general that is what would happen. I've been trying to find support for this online, and I managed to find this much.

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

It is considered likely by many authors that the current circa 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation is a relic of the oblique collision which produced the Moon. Furthermore it is argued that the presence of the orbiting Moon has, through a large part of geological time, stabilised this axial tilt or obliquity of the Earth. This has had important ramifications for life on the Earth as major and frequent shifts in this obliquity would have led to significant and rapid changes in the Earth's climate due to changes in insolation values at the poles and equator. A similar mechanism has been suggested to explain the apparent contradictions in the climate record of Mars.

I may be misunderstanding this still though. If I'm reading the bit from astronomy today correctly, the moon is responsible for the current sability of the Earth's rotation, but it does not need to stay here in order for the effect to persist. I would need to do some more research to be sure.

Anyway, don't doubt me manaman! I know a little of what I'm talking about

Edit: and while I'm thinking about it, the moon does more for us than give tides, you know! I mean, yes, that would be an effect, but that doesn't mean EVERYONE has to post that it would! I mean, most people just keep saying "tides will change" and nothing else. I'm sorry, it just annoyed me.

 

[Mechsoap]

the world would be floted and cities would be destroyed in hurricanes

 

[Claptrap]

I would put some in a sandwich and eat it.




What? It's cheese damn it!

 

[manaman]

snip

I see now.

In the first it is describing not only the cumulative effect of millennium, but how the moon was once much closer to the earth, it also delves a little into the creation of the moon and the possibility that the same event that created the moon created imparted the rotational energy on the planet. Lets start by taking a look at this equation.

FE = GMEm/R2

where

* FE is the force of attraction between the Earth and an object, as measured in newtons (N) or kg-m/s2
* G is the universal gravitational constant: 6.67*10−11 m3/s2-kg
* ME is the mass of the Earth in kilograms (kg)
* m is the mass of the other object in kg
* R is the distance between the objects, as measured from their centers of their masses, in meters (m)

This should tell you two things, one is that the moon will have a much greater effect on the earth the closer it gets, and that it is going to have more of an effect on one side of the earth. In other words it's going to slowly drag on the earth. This is also the reason the moon causes a bit more tidal action then the sun. It has more of a much greater effect on one side of the earth then the other. Where the sun has a large effect on both sides of the earth.

The second is stating pretty much the same thing:

• 
  Furthermore it is argued that the presence of the orbiting Moon has, through a large part of geological time, stabilised this axial tilt or obliquity of the Earth.
  
  The Moon also raises tides in the solid body of the Earth and in the past, when the Moon orbited much closer to the Earth than at present, these tides are estimated to have produced displacements in the Earth's solid surface of up to a kilometre.

You are quite right that the change in tides is not the only issue with the moon disappearing.

And that's why one shouldn't open one's mouth (metaphorically) in the middle of the night. Yeah, the sun's gravitational effect on earth is about 1000 times greater than the moon's, according to data from wiki and a rushed approximation I just did after waking up. Another thing that one shouldn't do...

Funny then that the moon causes higher tidal change through because of the distance/size. The sun has a greater effect on the earth as a whole, but because the great distance involved it has nearly the same effect on both sides of the earth. Because of the small size of the moon it has a noticeably larger effect on one side of the earth then it has on the other.