Destruction of the Moon
The destruction of the Moon is an hypothetical global catastrophe scenario explored in fiction and, informally, by scientists.
Energy required
Completely destroying the Moon so to avoid that the debris reassambles again into a satellite would require an amount of energy larger than the Moon gravitational binding energy, estimated to be 12*1028 J.[1][2][3] This equals to roughly 600 billion of 50 megaton nuclear bombs, such as the Tsar Bomba.[3][1][4] and it is roughly equivalent to the full energy output by the Sun in six minutes.[3]
Bringing the Moon's orbit within the Roche limit of Earth (below about 18.000 km) would also destroy it.[2]
Effects of the Moon disappearance
Tides
Without the Moon, tides would still happen -the gravity of the Sun also causes tides- but they would be substantially reduced[5] down to a quarter of the size of a current spring tide.[6] The sudden disappearance of the Moon however could release water pressure and create large potentially catstrophic waves around the oceans.[5]
The reduction of tides could have profound negative consequences on coastal ecosystems.[7] Tides also help to drive ocean currents; without the Moon, weather extremes and major weather events would be more common.[7]
Debris impact
Violent destruction of the Moon would likely bring substantial debris to impact Earth. Such debris would be slower, and thus have only about 1% of the kinetic energy with respect to a comparable asteroid, so their impact would be less destructive.[6] However, their sheer quantity could lead nonetheless to substantial atmospheric heating due to friction, possibly leading to extinction of life on Earth.[3][4]
Axial tilt
The Moon is probably necessary to keep the Earth's axial tilt stable. Without the Moon the axial tilt of Earth would oscillate chaotically beyond 45° on the scale of tens of thousands of years, possibly reaching 85°, with severe climatic consequences.[6][3][4]
Eclipses
Without the Moon, neither solar or lunar eclipses would exist.[6]
Actual proposals
The mathematician and Usenet personality Alexander Abian proposed that the destruction of the Moon would stabilize seasons and eliminate natural disasters from Earth.[8] Apart from being practically unfeasible, Abian claims have no scientific basis - destroying the moon would actually cause natural disasters.[5]
Destruction of other moons
Natural satellites can and do get destructed. The rings of Saturn possibly originated from the destruction of a former moon, called Chrysalis.[9] The capture of Triton by Neptune possibly destroyed the previous moons of Neptune.[10] In turn, tidal interactions also cause Triton's orbit, which is already closer to Neptune than the Moon is to Earth, to gradually decay further; predictions are that 3.6 billion years from now, Triton will pass within Neptune's Roche limit and be destroyed.[11]
Outside the Solar System, exomoons might collide with planets, removing life from them. [12]
In fiction
The destruction of the Moon features in several works, mostly of science fiction. Examples include:
- R. C. Sherriff novel The Hopkins Manuscript
- The 2002 film The Time Machine
- The 2013 film Oblivion
- The Doctor Who episode "Kill the Moon"
- Neal Stephenson novel Seveneves
- The season 1 finale of the Netflix series Umbrella Academy[13]
See also
References
- ^ a b Ward, Cassidy (5 December 2023). "IF THE MOON DISAPPEARED, WHAT WOULD IT MEAN FOR EARTH?". SyFy. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ a b Cain, Fraser (17 July 2015). "How could we destroy the moon?". Phys.org. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Paoletta, Rae (10 July 2017). "What Would Happen If We Blew Up the Moon?". Gizmodo. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
- ^ a b c "What would happen if we blew up the Moon?". BBC Science Focus. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ a b c Turney, Drew (19 April 2023). "A Brief History of the Ludicrous (And Misguided) Plots to Blow Up the Moon". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d Siegel, Ethan (2 March 2017). "7 Ways Earth Would Change If Our Moon Were Destroyed". Forbes. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ a b McFall-Johnsen, Morgan (7 May 2018). "What would happen if the moon suddenly disappeared?". Popular Science. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ "YIKES!: GOODNIGHT, MOON Shoot the moon? Hell, says Prof. Alexander Abian, why not just blow it up?;". People. 1991-06-24. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
- ^ Beckwith, Walter (19 September 2022). "Destruction of Saturn's Former Moon May Explain Planet's Tilt and Young Rings". AAAS. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ Siegel, Ethan (27 August 2020). "How Neptune's Triton Destroyed Nearly All Of Its Moons". Forbes. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ Chyba, C. F.; Jankowski, D. G.; Nicholson, P. D. (July 1989). "Tidal evolution in the Neptune-Triton system". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 219 (1–2): L23–L26. Bibcode:1989A&A...219L..23C.
- ^ Hansen, Bradley M S. (2023). "Consequences of dynamically unstable moons in extrasolar systems". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 520: 761–772. doi:10.1093/mnras/stac2847.
- ^ Craig, David (31 July 2020). "The Umbrella Academy season 1 recap: Did the world end as predicted?". Elle. Retrieved 17 March 2024.