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Take a ping pong ball and mark an 'X' on it. This 'X' will represent the side of the moon we can see in the night sky from Earth. Naturally, the opposite side of the ping pong ball will represent the side we cannot see from Earth (the far side of the moon).

Get a Basketball. This will represent the Earth. Take the ping pong ball and make the 'X' face the basketball. Move the ping pong ball around the basketball while keeping the 'X' facing the same direction you started with-do not rotate the ping pong ball. You are simulating the moon orbiting the Earth.

If you watch where the 'X' is while the ping pong ball is circling the basketball, you will notice that at some point, all sides of the ping pong ball will end up facing the basketball-this is also what would happen if the moon did not rotate. We would be able to see all sides of the moon.

The ping pong ball is not rotating hence we would be able to see all sides of the moon (including the far side). We cannot see about one-half of the moon at any time so we know that it must rotate-it's just that one side is always facing us (due to tidal locking).

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14y ago

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