Can We Live Without the Moon?

It’s a familiar sight in the night sky – whether it be the sliver of a crescent or the bulbous ball of a full moon, the celestial body has always rushed to greet us as night falls. But what if the Moon was not there? Could human life survive?

Well, interestingly, the Moon has had an inevitable effect on our evolution over the years. Suffice it to say that had the Moon never existed, humans in the form in which we now inhabit the Earth probably wouldn’t have done either, since the changes that would have affected the Earth would have been so great as to render some evolutionary advances implausible or perhaps even impossible.

That being said, it’s entirely possible that life would have prospered on our planet in the absence of the Moon. Although it may have looked different to how it is today, it’s certainly possible that animal life and indeed humanity would have come about regardless. If, however, the Moon were to vanish tomorrow, what would happen to us? Here are the biggest changes we would experience on a daily and yearly basis.

Tides Would Be Less Extreme

Although the Sun is about 400 times the size of the Moon, it’s also about 400 times further away. This means that both look approximately the same size to our eyes due to the ratio of perspective. However, the effect that both have on our tides are hugely different. Solar tides exert a far weaker power on the water than lunar ones, meaning that in the absence of the Moon, both high and low tides would be far less extreme than they are currently. This could, potentially, have a huge knock-on effect on marine life; less tides could equal less diversity, meaning a great reduction in life beneath the waves.

Days Would Become Much Shorter

The reduced intensity of the tides would also have an effect on the rotation of the Earth. With less tidal friction, the Earth would spin at a faster rate. As such, it would mean that one single day would be far shorter, perhaps even by as much as two-thirds. Imagine an eight-hour day! Of course, the accompanying consequence is that we would have far more of them in a year – perhaps in excess of 1,000.

No More Eclipses

That coinciding phenomenon in terms of perspective size mentioned above means that when the Moon and Sun align, we experience lunar and solar eclipses here on Earth. Of course, without a Moon, there would be nothing to eclipse the Sun (with the exception of Venus, which happens very, very rarely and does not look remotely the same). Whilst this wouldn’t have a dramatic effect on the way we live our lives, it would mean we miss out on a cool phenomenon. For more information about solar eclipses in particular, check out this informative article.

Our Seasons Would Be Wildly Unpredictable

We all learnt that the Earth rotates upon a tilted axis, right? Well, the thing that keeps this gradient of tilting stable is the Moon. Without it, the planet might behave like a wobbly spinning top, veering dramatically off to its side. In theory, it could spend whole stretches on time rolling on its flank like a barrel. This would mean that the North Pole would switch position to tropical climates basically at random. Of all of the changes which the Earth would experience in the absence of the Moon, this is by far the most dramatic and far-reaching. Indeed, such wildly-fluctuating seasons may have even prevented the evolution of humanity as we know it, were not the Moon there to keep us steady. Thanks Moon!