Template:Did you know nominations/Destruction of the Moon

Destruction of the Moon

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• ... that the destruction of the Moon would require almost 600 billions of the most powerful atomic bomb ever built? Source: https://gizmodo.com/what-would-happen-if-we-blew-up-the-moon-1796725643
  • ALT1: ... that the destruction of the Moon could alter the Earth's inclination? Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/03/02/7-ways-earth-would-change-if-our-moon-were-destroyed/
  • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Kaneiolouma Complex
  • Comment: Open to alternative hooks, of course.

Created by Cyclopia (talk). Self-nominated at 11:42, 18 March 2024 (UTC).

Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 5 past nominations.

Post-promotion hook changes will be logged on the talk page; consider watching the nomination until the hook appears on the Main Page.

• I will review this. TompaDompa (talk) 18:56, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy compliance:

• Adequate sourcing: - See below.
• Neutral: - See below.
• Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing: - See below.

Hook eligibility:

• Cited: - See below.
• Interesting:
• Other problems: - See below.

QPQ: Done.

Overall: Article created on 18 March, and meets the length requirement. All sources are, as far as I can tell, reliable enough for the material they are cited for. Earwig reveals no copyvio and I didn't spot any instances of unacceptably WP:Close paraphrasing. Both hooks are interesting. ALT0 has an extraneous "s" in "billions" and is not properly cited in the article as the article does not mention that the Tsar Bomba was the most powerful nuclear device of all time. ALT1 is properly sourced but I don't think most people know what "inclination" means in this context—"axial tilt" would likely be better. QPQ has been done. Some comments about the content:

• In general, this needs a thorough copyediting for grammar and whatnot.
• See MOS:BOLDLINKAVOID.
• The WP:Fair use rationale for the image doesn't hold up to scrutiny. A free image of the concept (though not this particular example) of a destroyed Moon could certainly replace this WP:Non-free image.
• 12*10²⁸ – nonstandard, see MOS:SCIENTIFICNOTATION. Don't use an asterisk for multiplication, and pick either scientific notation or engineering notation—this is neither.
• a comparable asteroid – should probably clarify that this means an asteroid of the same size as an individual piece of hypothetical Moon debris (as opposed to the total amount of Moon debris, for instance).
• substantial atmospheric heating due to friction – the sources don't say friction, nor should they. See e.g. Meteor air burst#Explanation.
• oscillate chaotically beyond 45° – this needs to be rephrased, for a few reasons. Oscillations are always between to values rather than beyond one, for one thing. For another, "chaotically" here is presumably in the mathematical sense but sounds like it means "violently"... except the sentence then goes on to say that it would be fairly slow.
• beyond 45° on the scale of tens of thousands of years, possibly reaching 85° – the source that mentions the latter also gives a much longer timeframe.
• Apart from being practically unfeasible – it certainly is, but the sources don't say so.
• Abian claims have no scientific basis - destroying the moon would actually cause natural disasters. – I don't doubt that the general consensus is that Abian's a crank, but a statement like this really needs stronger sourcing than it currently has. Make sure to make this compliant with WP:YESPOV.
• The capture of Triton by Neptune possibly destroyed the previous moons of Neptune. – the impression I get from the cited source is that those moons are believed to have been ejected, not destroyed.
• I might mention that Phobos is expected to be destroyed in the future.
• The "In fiction" section lacks proper sourcing. WP:Primary sources are not sufficient here, the content needs to come from secondary or tertiary sources. See e.g. MOS:POPCULT or WP:IPCV. Do sources on the overarching topic—Destruction of the Moon—discuss fictional depictions? If not, this section should be removed per WP:PROPORTION: An article should not give undue weight to minor aspects of its subject but should strive to treat each aspect with a weight proportional to its treatment in the body of reliable, published material on the subject. ("on the subject" is key here). I took a quick look at the relevant entries in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia, and they don't seem to mention this aspect.

Ping Cyclopia. TompaDompa (talk) 22:05, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

@TompaDompa Thanks for your detailed review, I'll try to address your comments ASAP! -cyclopia^speak! 09:39, 19 March 2024 (UTC)