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What Would Happen If the Moon Crashed To Earth?

Posted by timothy on from the pissed-off-roaches dept.

angkor writes: "What would happen if the Moon crashed into the Earth? We'd die. But there seem to be a lot of variables involved in answering this. I wonder if /.ers have any other ideas..."

2 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. pluto & charon? by klparrot · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Relative to the size of its home planet (the Earth), our Moon is the largest moon in the solar system.

    What about Pluto and Charon? Aren't they closer in size to each other than Earth and the Moon?

    Yes; check out Nine Planets (look at Earth, The Moon, Pluto and Charon). Here are the diameters:

    __________ Diameter
    Pluto _____ 2274 km
    Charon ____ 1172 km
    Earth ____ 12756 km
    The Moon __ 3476 km

    This is a diameter ratio of about 1/2 for Charon/Pluto and 1/4 for Moon/Earth.

  2. What really happened.. by fluffy666 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The curent theory of moon formation is that when Earth has about 90% of it's current mass (~4.5 billion years ago, or 50ma after the start of the solar system), a planetoid about the size of mars hit at a glancing angle. This gave us an enhanced metal core (original core+core of the other planet), blasted enough rock vapour into space to create the moon, and melted the entire planet.

    It's safe to say that if you were on the surface of the earth prior to this, watching the incoming planet, you'd probably need a change of underwear.