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[00:01] What would happen if the moon disappeared? Hi, welcome to Curious Kids Every Day. I'm Josh. How are you doing today? It's so good to hear from you. When you look outside at night, what is the biggest thing you see in the sky? Yep, it's the moon. There are some nights when you can't see the moon, or you can't see as much of the moon, but whether or not you can see it, it's always up there in space, 238,000 miles away. Now, have you ever wondered what would happen if the moon disappeared? Would Earth change? Would things feel different? I was thinking about the moon today because I got an email from a Curious Kid named Miriam. She wondered what would happen if the moon disappeared. To answer the question up front, if the moon suddenly disappeared, yes, a lot of things on earth would change, and a lot of those things would happen pretty quickly. The first thing you would probably notice is that nights would get much darker. Have you ever noticed how bright the moon is? You know, the moon actually provides us a lot of light at night. And what's funny is, the moon itself, it doesn't create its own light. All it's doing is reflecting the sunlight. Yep, so even when you can't see the sun, the moon still shares that sunlight with you. Almost like a little reminder. Like, hey, the sun is still out there, even if you can't see it. And I'll remind you that it's there. Without the moon, those moonlit nights would be gone. So you'd still see stars and sometimes planets up in the sky, but many nights would look much darker than they do now. Another change would happen in the ocean, and this one is so cool. See, the moon's gravity actually affects the oceans. It helps cause something called tides. Do you know what tides are? Tides are the daily rising and falling of ocean water along the coasts, like on the beaches. If you've ever spent time at the beach, you've probably noticed that the water comes up higher during some of the day and gets lower during other parts. Do you know why that happens? Because the moon's gravity pulls on the ocean water. Yep, even 238,000 miles away, we can feel the moon's gravity here on earth. What the moon's gravity does to the oceans is make them bulge a little bit in different places, which gives us high tide and low tide. The moon's gravity pulls ocean water slightly toward it, and that creates a bulge on the side of the earth that faces the moon. But it also creates a second bulge on the opposite side of the earth. And as earth spins, different places move through these two bulges, which is why most coastlines experience two high tides and two low tides each day. Many living things depend on tides. Shore birds and crabs and shellfish, many other animals too. They live in places where the water rises and falls every day. They kind of rely on it. If tides became smaller, those habitats would change and those creatures would be affected. They'd have to adapt if they could. Hopefully they could. Now, I knew about those other two things, but this was the main thing I learned when I was researching for this episode. Are you ready to hear something really wild? The moon also helps keep Earth's tilt steady over long periods of time. Did you know that? See, Earth is tilted as it spins. And that tilt is the main reason we have seasons. Like right now, it's springtime in the Northern Hemisphere. Then it will be summer, and then fall or autumn, and then winter, and then it will be spring again. That's all thanks to the tilt of the Earth. At different times of the year, different parts of Earth are tilted toward or away from the sun, which changes how much sunlight they receive. The moon helps keep that tilt from wobbling too wildly. I guess it just kind of keeps the earth steady. Isn't that so cool to think about? If the moon disappeared, earth would still spin, and we would still have days and nights and seasons for a long time. But over very long stretches of time, Earth's tilt could become less stable. That could lead to bigger changes in climate patterns. It's hard to predict exactly what would happen, especially since this is not really something we can test, and we never will be able to test, because the moon isn't ever going to just disappear on us. But we can take some guesses, and what we do know is that the moon helps keep Earth's tilt more consistent. And without the moon, that tilt could change. And even small changes in the tilt of the Earth could lead to big changes in the climate over time. So if the moon disappeared, Earth would still be here, but nights would be darker, tides would be much weaker, some ocean habitats would change, and Earth's tilt may change over time, too. The next time you look up at the moon, now you know you're looking at one of Earth's best helpers, 238,000 miles away. And did you know that the moon is slowly moving away from earth a tiny bit every year? Not enough that we'll ever notice any kind of difference in our lifetime, or in your children's lifetimes, or in their children's lifetimes, or children's children's children's children's children's lifetimes. It's moving so slowly. It moves about as fast as your fingernail grows. That's how quickly it's moving away from the earth. Just watch your fingernail growing. So yeah, nothing we need to worry about. But it is pretty cool to think about. Alright, let's have a quick quiz. Does the moon make its own light? Nope, it reflects light from the sun. What force from the moon helps cause tides? That would be gravity. And would tides disappear completely if the moon vanished? Well let's think about it. Is there any other gravitational force besides the moon that's pulling on us right now? Maybe something that we're rotating around. Yep, the sun! The sun causes tides too. But it has less of an effect than the moon does because the moon is closer to us. So the tides wouldn't completely disappear if the moon vanished. They would just be weaker tides and they would be caused by the sun. Let's play true or false. True or false? Earth would still orbit the sun without the moon. Yep, that's true. It might maybe get a little more wobbly over time, but it would still rotate around the sun. The sun's gravitational pull on us is unbelievable. True or false? The moon helps pull on Earth's oceans. Yep, that's true. True or false? Earth's gravity comes from the moon. That is false. Earth's gravity comes from Earth. True or false? The moon helps keep Earth's tilt steady over long periods of time. Would you rather visit one of the planets in our solar system or visit the moon? It would be so interesting to visit the moon, but if I had a choice here, I think I would want to visit Saturn and see those rings close up. I think that sounds so cool. All right, let's play a quick round of What Am I? What am I? I help cause tides. I'm the reason you can see the moon, and you should never look directly at me. What am I? I am the sun. I love doing these episodes where we think about things that could never actually happen, but what would it be like if they did happen? So what would happen if the moon disappeared? Well, Earth would still be here, we'd be fine. We would still have our own gravity and we'd still be pulled by the gravity from the sun, and we would still go around the sun, but the nights would be darker and the tides would be much weaker, and some parts of nature, especially near the ocean, would change a lot. And the Earth's tilt could change too. Isn't it crazy that something so far away from us has such a big impact on us? The gravity on the moon is really strong, and I think it's crazy that it literally pulls the oceans on Earth. Isn't that wild? I am amazed by the moon. What kind of question do you think we'll ask tomorrow on Curious Kids Every Day? I can't wait to find out. So until then, keep asking questions and stay curious, kids. And we've got a few birthdays today. Today is Alfie's birthday. Alfie is from Scotland and Alfie is turning eight. Happy birthday, Alfie. Kaleopi is from Hawaii and Kaleopi is turning six. Happy birthday, Kaleopi. Theo is from Wisconsin and Theo is turning nine. Happy birthday, Theo. Elise is from Utah and Elise is turning five. Happy birthday, Elise. Arlo is from Maryland and Arlo is turning six. Happy birthday, Arlo. Wells is from Winnipeg and Wells is turning five. Happy birthday, Wells. Eloise is from Missouri and Eloise is turning nine. Happy birthday, Eloise. And Maeve is from Connecticut and Maeve is turning seven. Happy birthday, Maeve. To all the grownups listening, if your Curious Kid wants their birthday mentioned on the show, please visit supportcuriouskids.com and join the Curious Kids Club. That's supportcuriouskids.com. See you tomorrow.