The moon is the satellite of the earth . If the earth is forced to wander , we humans will also want to take the moon with us. If we look at the night sky without a bright moon on the horizon , how many people will be lonely for this ! What's more, since ancient times, people have used the moon to pin their thoughts on their relatives and hometown .

Raise your head to look at the bright moon, bow your head to think of your hometown

For the earth , the moon is intimate to us who live in the global village .

As a satellite of the earth, how much change can the moon have on the earth ? How did the moon form ? What positive effects does the moon have on Earth ? What are the negative effects ?

The distance from the Earth to the Moon is equivalent to the length of 30 Earths

Some scientists said: The moon is the switch to restart the earth . The earth has experienced seven restarts so far . What is going on?

Let's uncover the cosmic secrets behind the moon together .

There are so many planets in the solar system, why is the moon and the earth the most closely related?

genesis of the moon

How did the moon come into being in the universe? The answer is a mystery.

There are three mainstreams in the scientific community— the Earth capture theory, the meteorite impact theory, and the Earth-Moon homology theory .

The Big Bang Created Space-Time and Galaxies

The first theory , "Earth Capture Theory", holds that the moon was originally an asteroid unrelated to the Earth, and that the Earth and the Moon belonged to different nebulae .

Because of the gravitational influence of the earth, the moon was captured by the earth , and over time it became the current moon, orbiting the earth all the time.

Astronomers who advocate the capture theory include Alfing , who believes that the lunar sea event that occurred on the moon 3.9 billion years ago is an important evidence for the capture theory.

As in the movie "The Wandering Earth", the earth is captured by Jupiter's gravity

The second theory , "Meteorite Impact Theory", believes that the moon was formed by the impact of a huge meteorite on the earth, which was formed by the downed material and became a satellite under the action of the earth's gravity .

The formation of the universe was due to a big bang . After that explosion, the state of various celestial bodies was very unstable , and collisions occurred frequently .

A planetesimal named "Theia" collided with the original Earth , and the two celestial bodies collided strongly. The fragments peeled off from the earth slowly cooled and merged to form a celestial body that revolved around the earth, and the moon was born.

Study shows the moon has a 'violent' origin

The third theory , the "Earth-Moon Homologous Theory", holds that the Earth and the Moon were originally one , because it was discovered that they were formed from the same planetary dust cloud .

About 4.5 billion years ago, a primordial dust cloud, or the primordial solar nebula , continued to rotate at high speed and became hotter and hotter. Its center became the sun , and its wide constellation disk formed nine planets , one of which It is the predecessor of the earth - the original earth .

Underworld Earth Imaginary Map

The primordial Earth was like a mass of spheres filled with lumpy matter, separated from each other.

Some blocks are large, some are small, they are affected by the earth's gravity and centrifugal force , balance each other , and begin to orbit the earth.

One of those blobs of lunar material, which is a bit more thought out, merges the surrounding clumps of material .

The earth moves around the center of mass, and "centrifugal force" is generated in the process

The merger process was inevitably hit by small meteorites , and the resulting craters became the uneven lunar surface seen today .

When the "power" is strong enough, it will break away from the earth and become an independent planet, but due to the strong gravity of the earth , the moon becomes a satellite revolving around the earth.

A conjecture of the formation of craters on the lunar surface

There are different opinions on the three theories, but they are all inseparable from the mutual gravitational influence of the earth and the moon. Just like a man and a woman who are in love, they are closely related and cannot be separated .

With the moon, people on earth are keen to explore the unknown of the moon , the Apollo lunar exploration, the Chang'e probe... With the earth, the moon no longer wanders, changing its cloudy, sunny, round and short, letting people know the changes of the seasons .

Apollo Moon landing: One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

seven reboots

You must know that the earth has experienced seven major biological extinctions . This is one cruel survival game after another. The weak are eliminated, and the strong can survive.

And scientists say: the moon is the switch to restart the earth .

Biological extinction: a cataclysmic event in which a large number of organisms die out and destroy in a relatively short period of time

The first extinction of species , or the first time the moon affected and restarted the moon, was the end of the Ordovician period , also known as the "Ordovician-Silurian extinction event" . 445 million years ago , 85% of species went extinct. Most are marine creatures , such as Dickinsonia .

During this period, the global climate became cold , and the earth's organisms were severely deficient in oxygen. At the same time, a large amount of black shale was deposited, and the earth entered the Andean-Saharan Ice Age .

Scientists believe that the extinction was caused by changes in global ocean circulation , which is inseparable from the movement of sea water caused by the tidal action of the moon .

At the end of the Ordovician period, the seabed was full of shellfish such as trilobites.

After experiencing the first extinction of species, the earth came to the Cambrian explosion of species .

After about 100 million years , life on Earth suffered a second extinction that killed 75% of all life on Earth, including the giant nautilus .

modern nautilus

The third extinction was the Devonian mass extinction , the Devonian period was the time when fish lived , and these vertebrates developed rapidly and became diverse.

During the late Devonian period , 365 million years ago , a disaster occurred. The Manzhu volcano in the central Pacific region erupted, producing a large amount of volcanic ash and greenhouse gases , and marine life was devastated.

During this period, the desire for survival made some general fins living in water evolve into reptiles living on land , and their fins evolved into limbs and became tetrapods .

Dunn's fish was one of the giant sea creatures before the mass extinction

The fourth Permian mass extinction , the most severe extinction event in history, occurred 250 million years ago .

Scientists believe that the extinction was caused by climate change, sea level rise, volcanic eruptions and other reasons, 90% of marine life and 70% of terrestrial vertebrates went extinct.

Largest mass extinction event at the end of the Permian indicated by the red arrow

The fifth extinction event was about 200 million years ago , known as the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event .

The large-scale volcanic eruption resulted in the release of a large amount of methane gas and carbon dioxide , which dissolved into the sea, resulting in anoxic acidification of the seawater , resulting in the extinction of 50% of marine life.

Global warming has made the wind and sand on the land raging, and some small terrestrial animals are also difficult to survive. During this period, dinosaurs were the biggest survivors, and they were eligible to enter the next period of competition.

The extinct phytosaurus at the end of the Triassic - the chisel-toothed crocodile

The sixth extinction, 65 million years ago , caused the extinction of the dinosaurs .

Dinosaurs ran rampant and survived the fifth extinction, but they did not escape the "lethality" of the moon reset button .

Some of the earliest terrestrial dinosaurs, such as Dictosaurus, were the first to go extinct

The full name of the sixth biological extinction is the "Cretaceous-Tertiary" extinction event .

There are roughly three reasons: the most famous asteroids hit the Earth, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis , all of which are somewhat affected by the moon ’s gravitational pull, unknowingly pushing life on Earth to the brink of death.

All non-avian dinosaurs died in this mass extinction

The seventh extinction, closely related to us , is a slow, less obvious way of extinction.

It started 12,000 years ago . At present, 50% of the species on the earth are extinct, such as quagga, thylacine, and North African elk . They disappear forever on the earth. It seems that it happened not long ago, very close to us and far away .

In 2016, researchers announced successful breeding of quagga

The two sides of the moon to the earth

The moon forms Earth's tides .

Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it also has celestial gravity , which can affect the movement of the sea water on the earth. We see that the sea ebbs and flows, and it goes back and forth , because of the gravitational force of the moon .

The rise and fall of sea water during the day is called "tide" , such as "high tide" ; the rise and fall of sea water at night is called "tidal".

Everyone is familiar with the phenomenon of ebb and flow, but do you know what causes it?

Tides are cyclical , in which the direction of movement of the ocean water faces the moon half of the time and away from the moon half of the time .

A cycle is 24 hours and 48 minutes .

How the Moon's Gravity Causes Earth's Tides

The moon brings the four seasons to the earth .

Long, long ago, the living conditions on Earth were harsh. During the day, the temperature was so high that the water boiled , and at night it was so cold that the water froze .

At that time, the earth had no sea water, and the surface was covered with magma

Because of the gravitational force of the moon's tidal action on the sea water, the rotation speed of the earth is slowed down, and the period tends to be reasonable.

The distribution of sunshine and heat has been improved, the temperature difference between day and night and the overall temperature difference have been reduced , and the earth has begun to show the characteristics of four distinct seasons , which is suitable for human habitation .

As the tides ebb and flow, the earth rotates

The Moon's gravitational pull on the Earth helps the Earth's rotation slow down.

The rotation speed of the earth now is only 1/6 of the time when the earth was born .

The moon helps the earth to slow down its rotation and avoid many problems, helps the earth to establish a normal ecological environment , and makes the earth a planet with diverse creatures rather than a barren and dead planet.

The average angular velocity of the Earth's rotation is 4.167 × 10 degrees/second

The moon also has some negative effects on the earth. For example, the tidal action of the moon easily induces geological disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions .

For the long history of the earth, these geological disasters mean the extinction of certain organisms , and also mean the balance and reconstruction of species .

The Moon, which brings us a habitable Earth with four distinct seasons, is also creating challenges.

The beautiful blue planet needs our protection

It is warning human beings that biodiversity is very fragile. In the past, biological extinction was due to natural disasters , but now it is more of a "man-made disaster" . Protecting endangered animals is also protecting human beings .