The Moon

[5eulbdog7]

I like the moon and i'm sure most of us have felt more romantic under it.

[Meg]

I love the moon too Billy, especially around harvest time! It really was spectacular this week- you could almost see the old man living up there

Meg

[Retsum]

What do scientists know ... they know the discovered facts ... but can't prove a negative.

In fact you cannot prove a theory to be true, you can only prove it false. So you have it the wrong way round.

Ask for an explanation of why power lines and associated equipment goes awry during a solar storm. ( Minute electrical disturbances ).

It is quite simple. During a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) - a massive explosion within the Sun - very high energy charged particles (protons, electrons and muons) are ejected from the Sun and if they happen to be directed towards the Earth some are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field and shoot off into space; some are captured by the Earth's magnetic field and oscillate between the north and south magnetic poles, emitting electromagnetic radiation which can interfere with electrical circuits on and orbiting Earth; and some penetrate into the atmostphere where they interact with molecules in the atmosphere to produce colourful sheets [there are currently two CMEs in operation - one tonight and one tomorrow]

there is a bulge in the oceans in the direction of the moon. This is an example of electro-magnetic force in action, you can see it happening.

This is an example of the gravitational force between the Earth and Moon.

... all matter is just a positive charge, or none, combined with others in varying clusters, and an electron moves constantly creating heat.

All matter is composed of negatively charged electrons, positively charged protons and neutral neutrons.

The very word ' menstrual ' should give you a big hint in your quest to understand the effects of the moon .. here endeth the lesson, Slainge mhath!

Rubbish! If that were true all women would menstruate on the same date of the month.

[5eulbdog7]

I love the moon too Billy, especially around harvest time! It really was spectacular this week- you could almost see the old man living up there

Meg

As Rabbie said corn rigs and barley rigs and corn rigs are bonny, I'll ner forget the nicht I held awa wi Annie. lol Billy

[ardrossanrentboy]

Thanks for that rebuff reply Retsum ... the question remains, does the Moon have an effect on human behaviour.
Your Rubbish! answer is a bit weak though, all women do not live on the same spot on earth. The moon is not overhead to a woman in New Zealand at the same time as her wee cousin in Sunny Saltcoats.
It has been observed in studies that when many women are brought together in the same close environment then their menstrual cycles do alter and sympathetically co-incide.

Earth & Moon. The Magnets do affect each other - slightly, but then we are talking minimal changes anyway.
So would the Moon's magnetic field affect the Earth's magnetic field, just as its gravitational pull affects Earth's gravitational pull for oceans?
Yes, but only slightly. Firstly, magnetic fields can superimpose, so the field at any point is the sum of the field due to the Earth and the field due to the moon.

However, the moon is rather far away (and has a weak magnetic pole strength), so the magnetic field due to the moon on Earth's surface is extremely weak (magnetic field also decreases as an inverse-square law)

In addition, the magnetic field of the Moon may bolster or erode the Earth's field as magnets moving relative to each other tend to either lose magnetization or become stronger.

To effect changes in mood or behaviour requires a minute change in the electro-chemical balance in the brain.

[Retsum]

Earth & Moon. The Magnets do affect each other - slightly, but then we are talking minimal changes anyway.
So would the Moon's magnetic field affect the Earth's magnetic field, just as its gravitational pull affects Earth's gravitational pull for oceans?
Yes, but only slightly. Firstly, magnetic fields can superimpose, so the field at any point is the sum of the field due to the Earth and the field due to the moon.

However, the moon is rather far away (and has a weak magnetic pole strength), so the magnetic field due to the moon on Earth's surface is extremely weak (magnetic field also decreases as an inverse-square law)

In addition, the magnetic field of the Moon may bolster or erode the Earth's field as magnets moving relative to each other tend to either lose magnetization or become stronger.

Rentboy, I'm not trying to put you down. I'm aiming for accuracy so that we can speculate with accurate information.
The Moon does not have a magnetic field. Magnetic fields are thought to arise as a result of movement of a fluid core. The Moon is solid.

[ardrossanrentboy]

Aha! But! Retsum, I shouldn't post after midnight should I ?
I flippantly used the ' can't prove a negative' phrase erroneously in the same manner folks still quote that Fraud Freud even donkeys' years after his debunking.
My point in using it was to illustrate that which we don't know about the causes of the moon's presence on human behaviour.
All earth's electric motors use Solid magnets ... they don't need to be Fluid.
The whole question about what we know and don't know about the moon is fascinating and NASA has some curious facts about the Moon Rocks brought back from the moon.
I'm still a fan of the Unknowns v Knowns and do try to keep up to date with authenticated discoveries, however I feel inadequate at expressing it better than my anti-hero Donald Rumsfeld;

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know. DONALD RUMSFELD.
McGonagall would have been proud to have put that in a poem.
PS the moon wasn't always solid ... go to NASA's website and search for moon rocks to read the latest results of tests on them which show lines of a prior magnetic field thought to be caused when the moon's core was fluid.

[morag]

I'd always heard the moon was wrenched fron the Earth during the great creation of the planets event, from the now Atlantic ocean area and that it did affect, either by gravitational or other means, our planet and ourselves. I'd not be so quick to back bench it but more to look further.

[ardrossanrentboy]

Quite correct that that was the prevailing theory and they called the other collision object Theia and it is said that the collision was east of the Yucatan Peninsula.
The accumulated evidence to support the theory relied on observations of the moon's structure and it aggregated or accumulated all the debris from the collision which would have been blasted out into near space probably as a spinning disk of rocks and dust.
Other evidence would of course come from examination of Moon material which was collected from deserts and Antartica as being derived from Crater activity on the surface of the moon.
Then we had Men on the Moon who brought back samples, American and Russian and this allowed close examination of the composition of the rocks.
Evidence of similarity to earth's rocks is abundant but difficult to be certain about the Theia proposition.
lookee here;
http://www.universetoday.com/93118/new- ... tic-field/
More theory adjustment because of Water being found in Moon Rock Samples from Apollo 15 mission;
http://sservi.nasa.gov/articles/water-i ... on-theory/
This site has some startling photos of the Barringer Meteorite Crater in Arizona and makes you wonder what size of meteor is required and what speed and angle of collision needed to create that crater, and where is the meteor debris now ? lookee here ;
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/bo ... huttleiss/

[brian f]

Ian and Retsum , perhaps you could explain why the USA dont seem to have much interest in the moon now

[ardrossanrentboy]

I'm scanning across the websites with Moon information and just by co-incidence read that very question on a Forum for Science.
Reasons not go to the Moon again range across the following ;
The Huge costs and the lack of political will to authorise the expenditure.
The ending of the Cold War ... relaxed the tense situation surrounding fears that the Russians and/or the Chinese would colonise the Moon and be able to site Ballistic Missiles on it. This may be reversed again in the future if they fail to continue international co-operation and cost-sharing.
USA's biggest security threat is mainly the Global Muslim concerted campaign against the Great Satan (ie, USA) and Israel. Even Muslims waging war on fellow Muslims of a different sect all agree that USA is their principal enemy.
9/11 shocked everybody in the US and lessened their high levels of confidence in their superior military technology and the means to deliver it and the people at large would probably not be very happy to see their tax dollars being abused in Moon missions instead of increased Homeland Security, understandable I believe.
Plus, there is no longer a need to subject Astronauts to a Moon Mission - it would be more cost-effective to use Robots.
Evidence of their nowadays reluctance to commit American soldiers to combat situations when they can use drones and have no embarrassing vote-losing body-bags to ship home ... not just USA by the way, just a few weeks ago Cameron was promising us, "No boots on the ground - in Iraq".

[ardrossanrentboy]

just a wee excerpt from a Lunar Affairs Website;
Not enough water on the Moon to sustain a Human Settlement.
The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, signed first by the major powers and subsequently by about 100 other countries, governs exploration and use of celestial bodies. Among the rules: No nuclear weapons up there.

Now here's a thought, an Independent Scotland could solve 3 Moon problems at once.
Firstly, send water - we have an abundance of it.
Secondly, send them Trident - we don't want it.
Thirdly, send known hardy souls who can survive in desperate conditions, Tommy Sheridan, George Galloway to name but two.
For those dedicated moon worshippers here's a great source of the Moon's formation;
Mapping the Early History of the Moon
http://sservi.nasa.gov/articles/mapping ... -the-moon/