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Gravitation from the Moon causes the tides. The energy for these tides comes from the rotation of the Earth, so obviously, when tidal energy is lost due to friction, etc., the Earth will rotate slower and slower. This follows directly from the Law of Conservation of Energy.
Another important conservation law is the Law of Conservation of Rotational Momentum. When the Earth rotates slower, the Moon goes farther away, to maintain the rotational momentum.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoYes. All orbits are ellipses, not circles, and EVERY orbit comes closer to the primary and then is further away. For the Earth, our orbit is almost circular; not very eccentric at all.
The Moon, on the other hand, is sometimes as close as 363,104 km and recedes to as far away as 405,696 km, a difference of about 40,000 KM.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoAbout 380,000 kilometers on average. The actual distance varies slightly.
About 380,000 kilometers on average. The actual distance varies slightly.
About 380,000 kilometers on average. The actual distance varies slightly.
About 380,000 kilometers on average. The actual distance varies slightly.
Wiki User
∙ 6y agoYes. The Moon goes around the Earth in an ellipse.
Yes. The Moon goes around the Earth in an ellipse.
Yes. The Moon goes around the Earth in an ellipse.
Yes. The Moon goes around the Earth in an ellipse.
Yes. All orbits are ellipses, not circles, and EVERY orbit comes closer to the primary and then is further away. For the Earth, our orbit is almost circular; not very eccentric at all.
The Moon, on the other hand, is sometimes as close as 363,104 km and recedes to as far away as 405,696 km, a difference of about 40,000 KM.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoThe answer might sound like an evasion of the question, and might not satisfy you,
but it's the simple truth:
-- The way gravity works, every closed gravitational orbit is an ellipse, with the
"central" body at one focus of the ellipse.
-- Ellipses with greater or smaller eccentricity are all possible, so there are an infinite number
of possible elliptical shapes for closed orbits. Comets and Pluto have orbits with large
eccentricity. Planets have orbits with smaller eccentricity.
That's the way gravity works.
-- A circle is a very special case of an ellipse ... the one where the two foci (focuses)
exactly coincide, and the orbital distance between the two bodies is constant.
-- That's one special case, out of an infinite number of permitted cases. It's just not
very likely.
The most circular orbits you're going to find are the orbits of the artificial communications
satellites, including the ones that send 900 channels of TV to those little dishes on the
corner of everybody's house. Those are placed in as close as possible to circular orbits,
so that they appear perfectly motionless in the sky, and people don't have to move their
dishes to follow the satellite. In order to place the satellite where it belongs AND achieve
a near-perfect circular orbit, ground controllers spend weeks to months after launch,
torquing and tweaking the orbit, and they have to give the bird a poof of propellant
every few days or weeks after that in order to keep the orbit circular.
Left to its own in the solar system's sea of natural gravitational forces, any orbit
constantly changes its eccentricity, as the orbiting body is pulled and tugged by
all of the other revolving bodies in the sun's family.
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoGravitation from the Moon causes the tides. The energy for these tides comes from the rotation of the Earth, so obviously, when tidal energy is lost due to friction, etc., the Earth will rotate slower and slower. This follows directly from the Law of Conservation of Energy.
Another important conservation law is the Law of Conservation of Rotational Momentum. When the Earth rotates slower, the Moon goes farther away, to maintain the rotational momentum.
Gravitation from the Moon causes the tides. The energy for these tides comes from the rotation of the Earth, so obviously, when tidal energy is lost due to friction, etc., the Earth will rotate slower and slower. This follows directly from the Law of Conservation of Energy.
Another important conservation law is the Law of Conservation of Rotational Momentum. When the Earth rotates slower, the Moon goes farther away, to maintain the rotational momentum.
Gravitation from the Moon causes the tides. The energy for these tides comes from the rotation of the Earth, so obviously, when tidal energy is lost due to friction, etc., the Earth will rotate slower and slower. This follows directly from the Law of Conservation of Energy.
Another important conservation law is the Law of Conservation of Rotational Momentum. When the Earth rotates slower, the Moon goes farther away, to maintain the rotational momentum.
Gravitation from the Moon causes the tides. The energy for these tides comes from the rotation of the Earth, so obviously, when tidal energy is lost due to friction, etc., the Earth will rotate slower and slower. This follows directly from the Law of Conservation of Energy.
Another important conservation law is the Law of Conservation of Rotational Momentum. When the Earth rotates slower, the Moon goes farther away, to maintain the rotational momentum.
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoAn interesting question is--why is the moon receding? It is "falling up." Where does the energy for that come from?
It comes from tidal friction with the earth. What this means is that the sun recedes through robbing earth's angular momentum. What happens is the earth's rotation slows.
It is expected that the lunar recession rate should slow--it is unlikely the moon will escape the earth. The current recession rate is about 3.8 cm (1.5 inches) per year.
Wilson Cycles also play a role in the lunar recession rate.
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoThe moon like most other celestial objects is governed by Kepler's 1st law of planetary motion - The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at one focus.
In the case of the moon the Earth is at one focus but the principle is just the same. The shape of the ellipse is measured using orbital eccentricity. A perfect circle would have an eccentricity of 0. In the case of the moon it is 0.054.
Why it is like that is simple. Imagine throwing a stone 50m onto a target. What are the chances of hitting the target in the middle exactly to the nearest millimeter?
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoIn the past, the Moon was a lot closer to the Earth. The ancient distance was about 10,000 miles. Then, the Moon was large enough to cover over a dozen present Moons.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoBecause its has an elliptical orbit with earth at one focus. Which means its orbit is not circular but slighty oval, bringing it closer and farther away at different times.
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Who is big between earth and moon?
It is the Earth, which is bigger between the moon & the earth.
In a lunar eclipse is the moon between the sun and earth?
No. In a lunar eclipse Earth is between the sun and the moon, thus casting a shadow on the moon. When the moon passes between Earth and the sun it is a solar eclipse, to an observer on Earth, the moon eclipses the sun.
What is the name of the moon when it is completely between the sun and earth?
The Moon or Luna. LOL it's name doesn't change because of a solar eclipse.
Where does the gravity of the moon become stronger than that of the earth so that an object in space between the two is drawn towards the moon instead of earth?
First, this isn't a simple "statics" problem. For example, the Moon is orbiting Earth. Also the Earth-Moon distance varies (elliptical orbit). (The distances mentioned below are, strictly speaking, distances from the centres of the Earth and Moon.) However, a simple answer is: at about a tenth of the Earth-Moon distance from the Moon. Here's why: The Moon's mass is about 1/81 of the Earth's mass. Gravitational force is directly proportional to the mass of an object. Gravitational force is inversely proportion to the square of the distance between objects. When the ratio of the distance to Moon to the distance to the Earth is 1/9 gives the "neutral gravity point". That's because 1/9 x 1/9 = 1/81. So, the place where the Moon's gravity takes over is one tenth of the Earth-Moon distance from Moon. The Moon's average distance from Earth is about 238,000 miles. That means the answer is: at about 23,800 miles from the Moon. (Remember there are other ways of looking at this problem. There is more than one "correct" answer, depending on your approach.)
What is between the moon and earth causes tides in oceans?
Mutual gravitational forces between the Earth and Moon are.
What is the average distances between the Sun and Earth and between the Earth and the moon?
about 10,000000km
What is keeping the distances between the sun earth and the moon?
Gravity
What is keeping the distances between the sun moon and the earth constant?
Gravity
How many earth to moon distances are there from earth to sun?
Like 74,507,811.09
How does the amount of gravity change between Earth and Jupiter?
Since Jupiter is further than the moon, there is not as much gravity as the Earth and moon.
Why does the Moon's appearance chages though a month?
As the moon circles the Earth, the shape of the moon appears to change; this is because different amounts of the illuminated part of the moon are facing us. The shape varies from a full moon (when the Earth is between the sun and the moon) to a new moon (when the moon is between the sun and the Earth).
The Moon is between Earth and the Sun?
The moon is revolving around Earth, so sometimes the Moon is between the Sun and Earth and Earth is between the moon and sun.
Who is big between earth and moon?
It is the Earth, which is bigger between the moon & the earth.
What causes the shadow which makes the moon change its shape?
The shadow is caused by the earth blocking the path of the light from the sun casting shadow on the moon. When the earth is not in between the sun and the moon then we have a "full moon."
Why does the shape of the tidal bulge change during the course of a month?
As the orbits of the Moon about the Earth and the Earth around the Sun are not circular, the distance to each of these bodies varies. Since the strength of gravitational attraction is determined, in part, by the distance between the objects, as the distances change so too does the strength of the tide-raising forces.
What do the distances of the the moon to the earth and the sun to the earth mean?
"Distance" means how far two object are from one another. In this case, how far the Moon is from Earth, or how far the Sun is from Earth.
Is the earth between the moon and the sun?
Venus and Mars
