What happens when the moons period of rotation and period of revolution is the same?

Answer 1

The moon rotates once for every time it revolves around the Earth. This is why we only see one side of it. This condition is caused by gravitational locking, in which the Earth's gravity has "locked" that one side of the moon into facing us.

Answer 2

Yes. From the point of view of an observer on the earth, the moon does that. And in fact, the times it takes
to perform one complete cycle of both motions are precisely equal. That's why it always keeps the same half
of its surface facing toward the earth.

Answer 3

The process is called "tidal locking." Originally (many millions of years ago) the Moon was spinning at a rate greater than it does now, but this additional motion was opposed by the "drag" of Earth's gravity against the portion that was moving "away" at any given moment. This caused a slow deceleration. The Moon also slows the Earth's rotation in the same way, but because of the Earth's greater mass, an already slow process has become almost immeasurably slow.

The length of a day on Earth only increases by a few milliseconds per century.

Answer 4

Well, your question comes at a very good time in the moon's history, because

it just swo happens that they are the same.

The result is that the moon always keeps the same part of it facing the earth.

This is hard for a lot of people to picture. Here's an easy way to understand it

by trying it out yourself:

==> Go outside and find a tree that has clear ground all around it, so you can walk around it.

==> Stand in one spot and face the tree. Look past the tree, and find some other object

in the distance, like a house or another tree.

==> Slowly walk around the tree without rotating. You'll know you're not rotating

if you keep facing the other distant object as you revolve around the tree.

... Notice that as you revolve around the tree, it sees your face part of the time,

and it sees your back the rest of the time.

==> Now walk slowly around the tree again, and as you do, keep facing the tree.

... This time, you'll see that you have to turn yourself around exactly once for each

complete walk around the tree ... your periods of rotation and revolution are the

same this time.

Answer 5

The short answer is that the Moon always keeps the same face towards the Earth.

It may seem to us that the Moon does not spin. But this assumption would be incorrect. The Moon spins with respect to the background stars, completing one rotation in exactly the same time (about 27 days and 7 hours) that it takes to orbit the Earth.

The period from full moon to full moon is known as the lunar or synodic month (about 29 days 13 hours). The period for the Moon to spin once with respect to background stars is known as the sidereal month (about 27 days 7 hours).

Answer 6

That is typical for moons in general. Our Moon must originally have had a different rotation; most like faster than it is now, but it gradually slowed down, due to tidal forces, until it always shows Earth the same side. Similarly, Earth's rotation is slowing down due to tital forces from the Moon, until in the far future, it will always show the Moon the same side. The Moon, having less mass, slowed down faster. (If we assume the case that the Moon rotated slower than it does now, the tidal forces would have sped its rotation up.)

Answer 7

Tidal forces. The same forces that slow down Earth's rotation. This can be understood by energy considerations: the energy from the tides comes from Earth's rotation. Therefore, if energy is taken away, by a tidal power station, or simply by friction, the Earth's rotation will gradually slow down. This will continue until Earth always faces the same side towards the Moon. In the case of the Moon, since it has less mass, this has already happened - it always shows Earth the same side.

Answer 8

The same hemisphere of the moon always faces Earth. This is because the moon's rotation and revolution take the same amount of time.

Answer 9

When something rotates, it spins around. When it revolves, it goes around something. So Earth would be spinning and going around the sun. Rotating and revolving.

Answer 10

Yes. That's why the same exact features on the moon are always facing earth (whether or not they're lit up).