If the moon's orbit was far more elliptical

[RandomPoster]

How drastic would the variation in tides be ranging from 1,500 miles to millions of miles

As the force of gravity is inversely proportional to the square of distance, the moon's gravity would be felt aat over 25,000 times stronger than it is felt now. .

That sounds like it would affect the water in our bodies and kill us.

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

The moon Was much closer at one point its slowly moving away
Some think it will eventually be hurled into space ....some theories say its gonna come back and crash into us

Horseshoe crabs were around when the tides were YUGE

 

[22lcidw]

We always see one side of the moon or a slight over scan of it. There are people who theorize if we only saw the other side which is more rough and more craters we may have developed differently in our ways. A large crater which reminds one of an eye is on that side. Perhaps the species would have looked at that as looking down on us.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

How drastic would the variation in tides be ranging from 1,500 miles to millions of miles

As the force of gravity is inversely proportional to the square of distance, the moon's gravity would be felt aat over 25,000 times stronger than it is felt now. .

That sounds like it would affect the water in our bodies and kill us.

Well, even at the surface of the moon, the gravity is only about 1.6 m/s^2. So gravity at the earth's surface would still be at least 8.2 m/s^2. A 192 pound guy would still weigh at least 164 pounds.

1500 mi = about 2400 km. By this chart, at that altitude above Earth, the gravity is just over half what it is at the surface:

Applying the same reduction to the Moon's gravity puts it's gravity 1500 miles away at the Earth's surface at about 0.9 m/s^2. So gravity at Earth's surface would be about 8.9 m/s^2. The 196 pound guy would still weigh 178 pounds.

But the oceans are a very thin covering on our planet. Increase the tides by. 25000%, and that would be ... noticeable. A 1 m tide becomes a 25 km tide.. We may still have some dry land, and we would all lose weight. The atmospheric pressure would only drop by about the same proportion (slightly more, let's call it 10% total reduction, due to the gradient), and the surface of the Earth would feel then the way being at an altitude of only about 1000 meters feels now (roughly the elevation of the lowest point in Colorado):

What would really kill us would be the cold. While the moon was completing the half of its orbit centered on perihelion, the Earth would often get less and less sunlight than it currently gets. Near perihelion, and when a "New Moon" or close to it, the Moon would block out a significant proportion of sunlight. The Moon would be about 15 deg in angular size.

 

[Damaged Eagle]

If the moons orbit was as elliptical as the OP's opening premise...

1. The moon would very likely be ripped apart at perihelion and become a asteroid field due to the speed differential between the far side and near side.

2. If the moon wasn't ripped apart, which I highly doubt, then the stain on earth's tectonic plates would be immense due to the moons constantly changing orbit causing an increase in volcanic activity and earthquakes. Additionally the tides at perihelion would be immense causing even further strain on the tectonic plates due to the weight redistribution of all that water. Which would also lead to more tsunamis, colder weather due to the volcanic ash in the air, and other items associated with such.

*****SMILE*****

 

[fncceo]

Everything about the moon is perfect for us humans.

Its size, its orbit, its distance from the earth, its speed.

The chances that could "just happen" by chance are about a hundred quadzillion to one.

The moon has been in Earth orbit for more than 4 Billion Years.

We evolved to live on a planet with our moon, our moon wasn't put there to assist in our survival.

 

[Augustine_]

The chances that could "just happen" by chance are about a hundred quadzillion to one.

Allahu akbar

 

[fncceo]

The chances that could "just happen" by chance are about a hundred quadzillion to one.

Allahu akbar

He totally is.

 

[Intolerant]

 

[james bond]

Everything about the moon is perfect for us humans.

No. It's the other way around. The Moon was here long before the first humans evolved. Naturally, they evolved to be suited to the environment in which they evolved.

The earth-moon system isn't fine tuned to humans. We are fine tuned to it.

I guess you didn't hear about Trump's idea of orbiting the moon to see if we can do that successfully and see how long we will be able to live in orbit. It includes shuttling down to the surface and trying to survive and evolve (sarcasm) there.

Instead, you seem to be saying that you're fine tuned to the moon already. Your Space Family Indiana should be able to survive and evolve there with no magnetic field and ice instead of water. Good luck with the no ozone layer and ice instead of water. Idiot.

 

[james bond]

The moon has been in Earth orbit for more than 4 Billion Years.

Couldn't be. Someone said the moon has been slowly moving away from the Earth each year at a constant rate. If this has been happening for 4 B yrs, then it would have had to be touching Earth to be where it is now. It means your assumptions about how old the Earth and universe are wrong.

 

[fncceo]

The moon has been in Earth orbit for more than 4 Billion Years.

Couldn't be. Someone said the moon has been slowly moving away from the Earth each year at a constant rate. If this has been happening for 4 B yrs, then it would have had to be touching Earth to be where it is now. It means your assumptions about how old the Earth and universe are wrong.

That rate isn't, nor has it ever has been, constant. When the moon first formed, it was much closer to the earth. As the earth and moon cooled and solidified, the orbits became more stable.

 

[RandomPoster]

Everything about the moon is perfect for us humans.

Its size, its orbit, its distance from the earth, its speed.

The chances that could "just happen" by chance are about a hundred quadzillion to one.

The moon has been in Earth orbit for more than 4 Billion Years.

We evolved to live on a planet with our moon, our moon wasn't put there to assist in our survival.

It's possible that if the moon and/or its orbit were different, we couldn't have evolved on this planet to adapt to it.

 

[RandomPoster]

Also, I'm thinking it might matter if the far part of the moon's orbit placed it closer to the sun or farther away from it. If it placed it closer, perhaps the sun's gravitational pull might gradually bring it closer and closer the sun. If it was flying further away from the sun, it would partially obscure the sun when closest to the earth.

 

[RandomPoster]

The moon has been in Earth orbit for more than 4 Billion Years.

Couldn't be. Someone said the moon has been slowly moving away from the Earth each year at a constant rate. If this has been happening for 4 B yrs, then it would have had to be touching Earth to be where it is now. It means your assumptions about how old the Earth and universe are wrong.

That depends on how fast it has been drifting away.

 

[Hollie]

Also, I'm thinking it might matter if the far part of the moon's orbit placed it closer to the sun or farther away from it. If it placed it closer, perhaps the sun's gravitational pull might gradually bring it closer and closer the sun. If it was flying further away from the sun, it would partially obscure the sun when closest to the earth.

Yes. If things were different, things would be different.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Couldn't be. Someone said the moon has been slowly moving away from the Earth each year at a constant rate. If this has been happening for 4 B yrs, then it would have had to be touching Earth to be where it is now.

That's absurd.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Instead, you seem to be saying that you're fine tuned to the moon already.

You're trolling. We are "fine tuned" to the environment in which we evolved. That environment is on Earth's surface.

 

[RandomPoster]

Instead, you seem to be saying that you're fine tuned to the moon already.

You're trolling. We are "fine tuned" to the environment in which we evolved. That environment is on Earth's surface.

We are fine tuned to the environment we live in as a result of evolution, except the environment we live in is extremely hospitable to the potential for life to evolve and fine-tune itself. I personally believe it is more far likely to be pure chance, rather than any type of divine intervention by some hypothetical man in the sky we can't verify the existence of.

 

[fncceo]

Everything about the moon is perfect for us humans.

Its size, its orbit, its distance from the earth, its speed.

The chances that could "just happen" by chance are about a hundred quadzillion to one.

The moon has been in Earth orbit for more than 4 Billion Years.

We evolved to live on a planet with our moon, our moon wasn't put there to assist in our survival.

It's possible that if the moon and/or its orbit were different, we couldn't have evolved on this planet to adapt to it.

That's very possible. A less stable Earth could mean we would have evolved very, very differently, or not at all.

Of course, if we did, we wouldn't be here to speculate it.