Throughout the history of mankind, we have always been asking the question: where did the Moon come from? To this day there is no 100% answer to where the Moon came from, or how it was formed. New research has proven that the Moon is a billion years older than we thought. Originally, we believe that the moon was about 4 billion years old, which is about the same has the age of the Earth, 4.5 billion. The Moon is called Earth only natural satellite. Orbiting the Earth at a speed of 3,683 kilometers per hour while completing an orbit around the Earth in about a month the Moon is the second brightest object in Earth sky. It has a diameter of 3476 Km, which is about ¼ of the Earth; the Moon’s surface area covers 1% of the Earth’s surface. Earth gravity is contently pulling the Moon down, but due to the Moon’s speed it will never run into the Earth. This orbit has created a unique bond between the two large bodies of mass. The Earth and the Moon have had a very successfully relationship that has lasted over four billion years.
So where did the Moon come from? How did it get here? There are several theories on how the Moon came to be. The first contemporary theory presented by George Darwin, the son of Charles Darwin, said that the Moon was a piece of the Earth the split off when the Earth was still forming and was a nothing more than a ball of molting rock and was spinning much faster than it is today. The theory built off of the idea that the moons was spun off from the basin of the Pacific Ocean. This would explain why like the Earth the Moon has an iron core, and the Moon’s composition is similar to the Earth’s. However, there is no “fossil evidence” and the Moon does not orbit around the Earth’s equator. Also, it is agreed that the Earth would had to have been spinning very very fat in oder for a chunk of it to break away, even if it the Earth was all molten lava.
The Capture Theory was created saying that when the Earth was developing, the Moon had its own orbit and was captured by Earth’s gravitational field. This would make sense since the density in the Moon and Earth differ, where has the Earth’s has a density of 5.51 g/cm³ and the Moons has a density of 3.34 g/ cm³. This theory was disfavored due to the ideal speeds the two planets would have to come to and the Moon’s change in energy. If the Earth lowered the Moon’s energy it would cause it to crash eventually into the Earth, or if Moon’s Energy was not lowered enough it would be released and sent back out into space. However, it is possible that the Earth had a much larger and thicker at atmosphere which could have put the Moon into the orbit it is in now. Still, this is unlikely and this theory is low in the possibilities on how the Moon came to be
Condensation theory is a theory that the Moon and the Earth were created at the same time. Both the Moon and the Earth came from the same Nebula; which is the Nebula that created our solar system. The con to this theory is that if the Earth and the Moon were from the same Nebula, they were condensed with each other which would cause the Moon to get sucked into Earth’s gravitational force and the two bodies would form into one planet, instead of the Moon becoming Earth’s satellite. The other disproving point to this theory is the Moon and the Earth do not share the same amount of iron in their cores. Since they also do not share similar gravity and again density, this also makes this theory and theory of disbelief.
Today the theory that is most widely recognized is the Giant Impact theory! The giant Impact theory idea was first kicked off by Reginald Daly, who challenged Darwin’s Fission Theory, saying that the Moon was created by being spun off from the Earth, saying that the Moon couldn’t have been created by the Earth spinning too fast and that it would be in its current orbit around the Earth. Reginald recommended that a giant impact was the cause, and that some of the Moon is from Earth and the rest was from debris in space. This idea was not highly recognized until a paper was published in the Journal Icarus. The two scientist claimed that after the formation of our solar system, there was a lot of leftovers. These leftovers ranged from gains of dust to body size planets. This resulted in a ton of collision with every planet in our current system.
Then in 2000 English geochemist, Alex N. Halliday, presented the name of the Mars size planet, Theia, which was a part of the idea proposed in Icarus . Theia came and collided with Earth, but not a head on collision, it was a grazing collision. The impact was violent and sent large chunks from the outer layers of Earth into space along with chunks from Theia. All the rocks and debris would have coalesced into which is now the Moon. This would explain why most of the Moon is similar to Earth’s composition, but it is not that same. In the 1970s Apollo missions, when Moon rocks were brought back. Scientist found identical ratio of oxygen isotopes but not the same. The 1% of the exotic isotopes are believed to be from Theia. After the collision, it was so violent that it remealted the Earth and and Moon was a planet of lava as well. Over time their orbits were formed with the aid of tides, which resulted in the same side always faced the Earth. Since the Earth was much larger then the Moon, it remained has a hot lava planet billions of years longer than the Moon. Since only one side of the Moon ever faced the Earth, it got extra baking time from the Earth, while the far side cooled much faster and formed a thicker layer on its outside.
Later after both side of the Moon have cooled down a rain of leftover material that never formed into planets or joined planets, known has The Late Heave Bombardment, were still in our solar system. This bombardment of large objects created a violent rain of falling debri on the inner planets. Signs of this destruction can be seen clearly on the moon with all of its creator inpacts. The same thing happened to Earth but it not has noticeable today. The Moon was hit on all side but the near side of the Moon, which faced the Earth, had a thinner crust on its out outside. Some of these creators where so deep that molten lava bubbles up and created most of the Lunar Marias. And the far side had a thicker crust which fewer asteroids could break and allow Marias to form. This particular theory is still being debated today.
So now that we have the best idea of where and how the Moon came to be, what is its future? Going off of the Giant Impact Theory, when the Moon came into Earth orbit, the Earth slowed down the Moon with its gravitational force and with tidal bulges. When the Moon orbits the Earth, the Earth pulls on the Moon with gravity, and the Moon pulls back. This gravitational pull back also pulls the Earths waters to one side away from Earth. This creates a bugle of gravity and is shaped in an oval around the Earth. This tidal bulge creates a friction from the bulge of gravity and energy is transferred from the Earth to the Moon. Resulting in the Moon to speed up and the Earth to slowed down. Every century the Earth is slowed down by 2 milliseconds. In return with the Earth slowing down, the Moon speeds up its orbit which causes it to moving about 3.78 centimeters away from Earth. The distance from Earth to the Moon can be calculated by a set of mirrors the Apollo Astronauts left behind in the 1970s, and with a laser pointed at those reflectors from Earth we can measure the distance, and the changing distance. With the Speed of light form the lasers and the time we can get the distance.
The Moon will continue to move away from the Earth and the transfer of energy will continue as well. Eventually the Earth and the Moon will become tide locked and one side of the Moon and the Earth will face each other at all times. Because of the tidal lock, the Earth will keep slowing down, and become slower than the Moon’s orbit. The Moon will eventually will become drawn into the Earth do to its low energy. In a couple of billion years the Moon will fall too close to the Earth and will rip apart the Moon with it gravity. This is currently being seen now with Mars’s Moon Phobos.
In summary; the major believe is that the Moon was created about 4.5 billion years again with the Giant Impact Theory. That a Mars like sized planet clipped the Earth causing chunks from the earth and the foreign planet to orbit around the Earth which eventually mutated into which what we now call The Moon. For the Future of our Moon. It does not look promising. The transfer of energy will cause the Moon to speed up in Orbit and get further away, but it will never leave Earth’s orbit unless an external force occurs upon the Moon. The Earth will slow down and with the Moon increase in energy, both Earth and the Moon will become tidal locked and each side will forever face each other. With the Moon increase in speed in orbit and the Earth slowed down, the Moon will orbit into the Earth. Before it gets too close Earth’s gravity will rip apart the Moon turning it to debir to orbit Earth like Saturn’s Rings. Hopefully, Humanity would have found a new planet to inhabit and will be long gone before any of this occurs.
(I will organize this later)
http://cloe.boulder.swri.edu/aboutTheMoon/alternateTheories.html
http://www.universetoday.com/19718/formation-of-the-moon/
https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question38.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCzchPx3yF8
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.eiu.moonorbit/why-doesnt-the-moon-fall-down/
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/about-us/37-our-solar-system/the-moon/the-moon-and-the-earth/111-is-the-moon-moving-away-from-the-earth-when-was-this-discovered-intermediate
https://www.psi.edu/epo/faq/earth_moon.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGVbjKmNsDM
