Gravity of the Moon

The moon doesn’t just reflect the sun it also is important for the earth’s gravity.  The moon keeps the earth from wobbling around as it spins around the sun.  Okay try to imagine that.  Very funny.

It’s the moon that creates the tides also.  Where the moon is facing the earth that side and the side directly opposite has a high tide, the other two sides are in low tide.  Gravity is strongest on items that are close together.

The earth is not a perfect sphere.   Imagination again.  Picture the earth being squished by your thumb and forefinger at the poles.  Not far but just enough to create a small bulge around the middle.  The moon pulls water into the tides twice a day, so all coastal areas experience two high tides and two low tides every day.

The moon causes all of this.  I never would have thought to create a moon to help earth with its gravity.  Would you?

Pack out what you pack in.

Sources:

Explore the Solar System, Earth and Earth’s Moon, © 2011 World Book, Inc.  Chicago, Il 60601, www.worldbookonline.com

World Book’s Solar System and Space Exploration Library, Earth and Earth’s Moon, Second edition, ©2007, World Book, Inc. A Scott Fetzer Company, Chicago, IL.  www.worldbook.com