What if the moon suddenly disappeared from the sky? How is life affected on earth?

The moon is not just a beacon of light in the night sky, its presence is crucial to the delicate balance that makes life on Earth possible.

When the moon was formed about 4.5 billion years ago, it was about 16 times closer than the Earth, which made it appear on the horizon about 24 times larger. However, the opposite is what is happening now, as the moon is gradually moving away from our planet by about 4 centimeters each year, due to the presence of a small amount of friction between the earth and the tides, which slows its rotation and with it the moon crawls away.

But what would happen if the moon disappeared completely or moved away from the earth and drifted into space? How will this affect life? Did the moon ever disappear?

According to the Science Alert website, the moon completely disappeared from the night sky inexplicably in May 1110, but after nearly 900 years, scientists concluded that the gases that were emitted from the volcanoes at that time covered the sky and that the moon did not leave Earth never really.

But if the moon moved away completely from our planet or disappeared, life on Earth would be fundamentally different if it were not in danger of destruction. The moon is not just a beacon of light in the night sky, as its presence is crucial to achieving the delicate balance that makes life on Earth possible.

What will happen to the oceans?

According to the Royal Museums Greenwich website , the moon has the greatest influence on the tides we see on Earth, and without it, the tides would shrink by an estimated 75%. And the tides will not disappear completely because - while the moon does most of the gravity that leads to the existence of tides on Earth - the sun plays a role as well.

Without the tides, the lives of many animal species that depend on the tides for survival, such as crabs, mussels and sea snails, would be put at risk, disrupting the diets of the large animals that depend on them for food. This, in turn, would threaten entire coastal ecosystems, and could lead to mass extinctions.

In addition, one of the largest spawning events in the world occurs on the Great Barrier Reef every November in the days after the full moon, when coral colonies across the reef release millions of eggs and sperm sacs within minutes of each other. Scientists are sure that the full moon plays a role in choosing this timing, but they do not know exactly how this happens.

What will happen to the weather?

Tides also stabilize the Earth's climate, mixing cold Arctic waters with warm waters in the tropics. This balances temperatures and stabilizes climates around the world.

Without the moon, weather predictions would be virtually impossible, and the average difference between the hottest and coldest places on Earth could grow to life-threatening extremes.

What will happen to animals in the dark?

Business Insider reported that the full moon is on average 14,000 times brighter than the brightest object in the night sky, Venus. Thus, in the event of the disappearance of the moon, the Earth will suffer from a lot of darkness, which will affect the lives of animals at night.

The predators rely on both the darkness of the night and a small amount of moonlight to hunt effectively. Without any light at night, predators would have a hard time finding prey. This could cause a drastic change in the ecosystem and possibly lead to the extinction of some predators.

What will happen to the classes?

The Earth is tilted around its axis at 23.5° mostly due to the gravitational pull of the Moon. Thus, the moon's gravitational force on Earth is what keeps our planet in place, and without it, the Earth's tilt would change dramatically, swinging between 10 and 45 degrees.

Some experts estimate that Jupiter could help prevent the Earth's tilt completely from spinning out of control. But even an extra 10 degree tilt could cause climate chaos on the planet.

Evidence for this is that in the past, when the Earth's tilt changed by about 1-2 degrees only, this led to the occurrence of ice ages, according to what scientists believe. So it's hard to know what a tilt of 10 degrees or a full 45 degrees would do, but it certainly wouldn't be good for most life on Earth.

If the Earth's tilt increases to 90 degrees, one side of the Earth will remain in complete darkness for 6 months, and the sun will shine on the other side of the Earth for the same period.

What happens to the Earth's axis and the number of hours of the day?

According to the Astronomy website, the disappearing moon will also affect the movement of the Earth around its axis and the number of hours of the day available to us. Since a long time ago, the Earth rotated on its axis for only 4 hours, but with the presence of the Moon, the Earth's rotation around itself slowed down until it reached 24 hours, which is the length of the day as we know it now. If the moon disappears today, the Earth will rotate faster and the number of hours of the day will decrease again.

An important source of information has disappeared

The disappearance of the moon also means the loss of a wealth of information, and since it is not geologically active, the moon acts as a repository of information about the shape of the Earth and the solar system billions of years ago.

This is not available on Earth due to tectonic activity and the unavailability of ancient rocks on Earth. For example, the large number of craters on the Moon means that there was a period of heavy bombardment by asteroids about 4.1-3.8 billion years ago.

Chemical analysis of moon rocks also helped us learn how much water comets and asteroids brought to Earth. In short: getting to know the moon brings us closer to knowing the composition of the Earth.

It can also be said that the moon is not only essential for life on Earth today, as experts believe that the moon may have played a major role in the emergence of life on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago.