About a thousand years ago, the Moon began to be considered one of the main elements for several cultures. Many of these, in fact, consider the satellite a true deity, due to the Moon’s influence on the tides.
Through observation, several civilizations, since ancient times, realized that the Moon had a direct influence on the tides and began to shape their fishing based on this.
With the emergence of the first thinkers, who led to the creation of Philosophy, other areas of study began to emerge. Until humanity’s efforts turned to understanding phenomena as something natural and not divine.
It was then that scientists proved something that many cultures had known for years. The Moon exerts a gravitational force that attracts water to our planet. In this way, it modifies the tides.
As we explained, this conclusion has been around for years, we just needed to know what the reasons were. It was discovered that gravity is not only exerted from the larger body to the smaller one, but rather from both, exerting force on each other.
Therefore, at the same time that the Moon is trapped by Earth’s gravity, the Earth is being pulled by the Moon, but to a lesser degree.
How tides work
This tug-of-war game causes the water present on our planet, which is a fluid substance, to be greatly influenced by lunar gravity. Therefore, when the Moon is over a point on Earth, the water (in this case, the seas) present at that point forms a kind of “belly”.
In other words, the water will “throw itself” towards the Moon, however, as the Earth is a complex and interconnected system, this phenomenon will cause the water from the opposite point to where the Moon is to create the same “belly”, in order to compensate for the planet’s balance.
For example, if in Brazil the seas are pulled towards the Moon, the same will happen in Japan, even if the Moon is not there. This is a phenomenon of the seas that also includes the Sun in the equation, but we will not discuss it here.
Influence of the Moon and tides on the length of days
The thing is, this explanation about the influence of the Moon on the tides is also the explanation for why our days have 24 hours. Recent research, carried out at the University of London, discovered that, long ago, a day on Earth had only 13 hours.
Everyone knows that Earth’s time is defined by the rotation movement, which, in turn, refers to the Earth rotating around itself.
However, the discovery was that 4.5 billion years ago, still in the early days of our planet, its rotation speed was much higher. However, with the shock that created the Moon, together with its influence on the seas, there was a kind of “brake”.
Even if this has happened, it does not mean that the Earth will continue to slow down until it stops. In reality, this effect has only “adjusted” the speed of the planet’s rotation to a point that balances the presence of the Moon in its system. Therefore, if today we have well-defined days, we owe it to the Moon.
