The race to the Moon and the consequences

I am sorry in advance if this makes no sense. I'm not the smartest when it comes to physics or space.

I was thinking last night how I heard that a country (was it China?) wants to go to the Moon to ore it for uranium or something like uranium. I think several countries including the U.S. are currently in the beginning stage of a space race back to the Moon to build a permanent base (although I think the U.S. already has a base there).

My concern is that something bad might happen to the Moon like an explosion and it will be thrown off course. If that happened, could it cause a polar shift here on Earth or modify the affect of gravity here on Earth in some way?

I think we need to learn how to treat Earth better and with more respect before we go branch out into space and destroy the rest of our near solar system including our ever important Moon.

Just my 2 cents.

UFOR,
Our diligent friend Internos has done an amazing job documenting the new moon race.

Here;
Internos's Awesome thread about the moon race

I think it is imperative that these missions to the moon proceed.

The resources there are important for the future of space exploration.

The forces required to move the moon from it’s orbit are immense! It would be difficult at best, even if someone tried. Probably easier to blow it up, with mans current technology.

Anyhow, check out Internos’s thread. Huge amount of info! It will keep you occupied for some time.

Peace

Really, an explosion would not move the moon from its current place. Think of all of the impact craters, how many there are, and the sizes of some of them. If an explosion could move the moon, these horrific impacts would have sent it on a pin ball tour of the universe.

Greetings ufo reality!

Originally posted by ufo reality
I am sorry in advance if this makes no sense. I'm not the smartest when it comes to physics or space.

No problem, though that wouldn't stop a few people here!

Originally posted by ufo reality
My concern is that something bad might happen to the Moon like an explosion and it will be thrown off course. If that happened, could it cause a polar shift here on Earth or modify the affect of gravity here on Earth in some way?

Firstly I don't think any man made explosion could do that. Don't forget the Moon has been around for billions of years and the early solar system was a very violent place with many powerful meteors smacking into the Moon with forces and energies many thousands of times greater than the atomic bomb!

In order for the Moon to escape (i.e achieve an escape velocity) it would have to be given a lot of energy to break orbit and I seriously doubt we could generate the energy required.

Originally posted by ufo reality
If that happened, could it cause a polar shift here on Earth or modify the affect of gravity here on Earth in some way?
some way?

So if the Moon was to leave or disintegrate, I see no reason why there would be a polar shift. It is true that we would lose the tides and probably precession (you see the Earth wobbles on it's axis as a result of the Sun and the Moon pulling on it, the net result is that the pole star shifts over a course of some 25,765 years), this would be affected.

The Moon has no effect at all on the Earth's gravitational field. The gravitational field of the earth comes directly from the Earth's mass, since our current theory of gravity (which has held every test so far) tells us loosely, that gravity is caused by matter (and energy). So if the Moon was to suddenly go, no effect on the Earth's gravitational field since the Moon does not contribute to the Earth's mass.

Originally posted by ufo reality
I think we need to learn how to treat Earth better and with more respect before we go branch out into space and destroy the rest of our near solar system including our ever important Moon.

I think you're being rather alarmest and a little niave if you think that we have the power to destroy whole worlds!!! While I agree that we should be careful how we treat the Earth it is vitally important that we go out into the solar system. The more we learn about other worlds the more we learn about our own. Not to mention the great benifits and discoveries in all scientific fields that stem from space research and exploration.

Also, the Sun is not going to last forever. Mankind needs to start taking it's first tentative steps towards findining a home from home.

Hope this helps,

Timelike.

[edit on 30-4-2008 by timelike]