The Moon: What is it's purpose?

I am sure this is used elsewhere, my work here, just remember to give credit and obey the timestamp.

John99: 1-22-09

RUSH

 

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No it isn't.
Otherwise the claim would also be that we see in the day time due to diffusion.
If moondust were not as reflective as it is then we wouldn't get as much light.
Since there's no atmosphere on the moon what light we get is specular reflection - it only diffuses when it reaches Earth.

 

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The light hits the surface of the moon and is scattered (diffused). bounces off in all directions, since the moon is not smooth i chose diffusion.

Reflection
Specularity
Diffusion
Subsurface scattering

I dont think we can call it reflection because, as noted aboev the moon is not like a mirror.

SSS, it is not translucent, so that doesnt appply.

Specular is kind of close to diffusion, but is more a reference to highlights.

 

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What I want to know is, whats the purpose of the Earth?

 

ehh it effects the tides

 

That has been brought up in the thread. In fact, It is a major point of contention.

 

Purpose is kind of an abstract term. What i see as its purpose may not be what others see as its purpose. It's kind of speculative.

 

And since, as you yourself pointed out (in the link). diffusion takes place in an atmosphere it's reflection: diffuse reflection is still reflection.

Actually moondust is remarkably good at reflection, especially directly-on.

Nonsense.

 

ok. this is not the main point of the thread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_reflection

 

Correcting misconceptions should always be done when the opportunity arises.

Look at your link: Diffuse_reflection NOT diffusion.

 

Do you feel that the moon has some sort of teleological purpose?

 

The thread is not 100% serious, but was a good discussion. I just found it interesting and dug it back up after reading about pluto's moons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Pluto

Possibly linked to the coriolis effect.

 

When scientists first began doing laser range finding with the laser mirrors left on the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts, they soon began to note a slight change in distances. The moon is actually leaving the orbit of the Earth and one day will simply shrug off the gravitational pull of the Earth and become a solar roaming free agent. Most likely scenario is that it may well, eventually, become caught in the gravitational field of Jupiter, the solar system’s vast vacuum cleaner, and either become a Jovian satellite or be destroyed in a titanic collision. Another possibility is that it may stay in the same orbit as Earth and eventually catch it up and collide.

Last night (Feb 19th 2010), on Discovery tv, I watched a program which enforced that which I already knew. It showed us, in some quite spectacular graphics, that a Mars sized object hit the virgin Earth at approx 45 dgrees causing a mass ejection of material into surrounding space. Most of this coagulated together to form the Moon and the heavier iron elements fell back to Earth.

When the moon originally formed, it was 15 times nearer the Earth, therefore 15 times as large. Must have been some sight, moonrise!

Sci Fi addicts may well recall the UK Sci Fi sceries, Space 1999, in which the moon was blown clear of Earth by a nuclear accident. But, what that fictional series did not show was the effect this would have on Earth. The tides will cease for a start, when the seas level out, cities like New York and Rio would become uninhabitable as a 4 metre rise would occur.

The last time the Earth ‘wobbled’ was back when the Sahara was a lush, tropical giant forest. The result of that ‘wobble’ is as we see the Sahara now. The moonless Earth will experience wobbles of more severity. The Earth’s angle to the sun (23 deg) is maintained by the Moon, without this steadying effect, weather patterns would be severely more extreme and changes to the surface was more markedly differing in style. The Moon leaving would cause the Earth to become unstable and fluctuations occur. The polar caps could become the new equator for example! The northern hemisphere enjoys its ‘winter’ even though the Earth is actually nearest to the Sun, and vice versa due to this 23 degree angle. Which is why summers down under are notably hotter than our own, when the Earth is furthest from the Sun. Anyway, hopefully by this time, we may have actually evolved enough to have the ability and knowledge to ‘move house’?

 

What are some suspected locations for this?

 

Sorry I dont understand, locations?

 

where did this object hit the earth?

 

It was Mars sized as I said, it matters not WHERE it hit, as the Earth was in a semi molten state back then. The solar system was in its infancy. We are talking planets colliding, the results detonation tore huge chunks of a very molten planetoid, the reseulting gravitational forces caused them to reform over millions of years to form the Earth AND the Moon, which was not there before the collision. It has been scientifically proved that the Earth and Moon are of the same structure, eg: came from one.

It matters not Where, because there wasn't a where.

 

Well, my observation was that the moon is too far away to have an effect on the earth, in addition to being too small.

 

??????????? Thats now, what about THEN? Are you really trying to say that the moon has no influence on tides etc as its 'too far away'??? You need new glasses mate.

 

if it weren't for the moon, life may not have begun on earth. this is fascinating from the perspective that life is such an accident.

one could argue that earth with it's atmosphere is a little universe of it's own because certain variables must exist for life to exist in the form that it does. this obviously does not exist outside our atmosphere.

i just wonder if life was able to evolve under different variables and circumstances, if there would even be any capability to recognize or understand it.