Could humans survive without the moon?

Answer 1

Yes. Humans aren't (directly) dependent on the tidal actions of the moon and wouldn't be adversely affected by its absence. There are some animals that have a heavy dependence on the lunar cycle that would be driven near extinction by the loss of the moon.

The tides have a great benefitial effect on oceanic life in general as they dredge up nutriants from off the ocean floor. However there are still the solar tides which would still provide some of this effect.

I totally disagree. We could NOT live without the moon. The Moon was formed from a highly-tuned collision with a Mars sized object approximately 4.5 billion years ago. It caused Earth to have its perfect 23.5 degree angle and without this, humans certainly could not survive. Without the Moon, Earth's rotation axis tilt would vary between 0 and 85 degrees; certainly, not compatible with life. Also, the moon is enormous compared to other planet/moon body ratios, VERY rare. Our Moon is certainly unique and was formed precisely as it needed to be, at the right time with the right specifications. The simulations show that the debris ejected from Earth must have consisted primarily of solid or liquid material-not gas-or else the debris disk would have dissipated too quickly to coalesce into a Moon-sized satellite. A larger impactor would have generated more energy during the collision and, consequently, more vaporized, gaseous material in the debris disk. However, a smaller impactor would not enrich Earth with the necessary heavy elements to drive long-standing plate tectonics nor provide sufficient energy to completely eject Earth's life-suffocating primordial atmosphere into space. (This gas does not become part of the debris disk, but is completely removed from the Earth-Moon system.) Thus, if the impactor were larger or smaller, the capacity of Earth to support advanced complex life (like humans) or abundant, long-standing microbial life rapidly diminishes. Additionally, if a planet is too large, it cannot have a moon formed by a giant impact event. The Moon-forming impact requires a just-right-sized impactor striking Earth at the just-right speed, at the just-right location, with the just-right angle, and at the just-right time.