What would happen to the earth....If i blow up the Moon?

[sherminator]

I've always wanted to blow up the moon! Just wondering what the potential side effects would be of such an endeavour!

Obviously the tides would stop moving but what else would happen?

Cheers

[rsvp]

most of us would be jolly miffed at you and you'd have to stand in the naughty corner.

[Mick-Talbot]

sherminator
Question Author

I couldn't beleive how poor the answers I received back were!



LOL @ that is brilliant coming from a poster with no 'best answers'

(it says one best answer but there isn't one)

[Old_Geezer]

Whilst not getting the answer desired can be annoying, I think a little humour is a good thing, and one out not react too outraged at getting it. A simple request for something more serious would have been wiser.

Aside from that I think most things have been covered. The potential of getting hit. That the Earth's would no longer have it's stabilising influence, might well wobble around a lot more. The likelihood of rings. Etc.

[starone]

Sorry everyone, but I couldn't help having a good laugh at this thread. It is nearly as good as the jokes section. A sense of humour never hurts - except in the case of practical jokes of course.

[sherminator]

my question was meant to be a bit of fun with a serious scientific curiosity. What i got back were 6 answers before someone even attempted to answer the question! Anyways not worth fretting over. and for the person who was on about best answers?....sorry that means absolutely nothing to me? is it an insult? well done you if it is?

[Mick-Talbot]

It's an observation.

Cheer up, it might never happen.

[DTCwordfan]

It certainly cheers me, Mick, as on this showing it won't happen.

[jomifl]

Sherminator, 'blow up the moon' what do you mean exactly? destroy it completely or just break it up into small or large pieces? If you could be a little more precise in your question you might possibly get some sensible answers.

[emmie]

where would the cow go to.

[emmie]

bit old but some interesting answers

http://uk.answers.yah...20070909132551AAjmgJj

[McMouse]

There would be a shortage of green cheese.

[Mick-Talbot]

em10

where would the cow go to.



To the laughterhouse, em

[emmie]

well he wouldn't go over the moon that's for sure x

[Mick-Talbot]

http://www.thepoke.co.../10/laughterhouse.jpg

[emmie]

very funny...

[wildwood]

What's wrong with a bit of friendly banter?

You've already had some sensible answers. The nocturnal animals will go hungry and die out. Many plants rely on the moon to complete their life cycle. It will get a lot colder at night.

The tides support multitudes of animal species who rely on low tides for their food. The ocean currents will be seriously affected, this will probably mean devastation to the world's fish stock, including the aquatic mammals.

[sherminator]

To Jomifl....Im not sure precisely? Just fire some pretty damn big warheads at it I suppose.

[jomifl]

Sherminator, if you want sensible answers you need to ask sensible question, so how many pieces and how big?

[peter_jameson]

I think that your question is very thought-stimulating, sherminator. Let's imagine just making the moon disappear rather than blowing it up.

Well, jake-the-peg is quite right about the common centre of gravity shifting and that would probably kill all life on earth and indeed shatter the earth itself just by the fact that it would move several hundred miles (just a guess) outside its angular momentum to the new centre in just a few hours. We'd all be squished!

Also due to the moon's gravity, the oceans bulge out toward the moon and there is an anti-bulge on the side away from the moon resulting in the tides. All the water in each bulge would suddenly be let go resulting in a tidal wave that would swamp the earth continuously for a very long time, probably years. That would mean extinction for us as well. As if that weren't enough the hot, internal magma of the earth also feels the gravity of the moon so the result would probably be smashed-up continents and lava flows everywhere as the magma did the same thing as the oceans.

Sherminator, please don't blow up the moon or make it disappear!

The ramifications of your interesting thought experiment have really set me thinking, so thanks for that. Whilst you were upset by the flippant answers, I have to say that albaqwerty's comment about the werewolves had me in stitches!

Regards

Peter Jameson