Strands#265 Did You Hear That?
Quizzes & Puzzles2 mins ago
The moon?
Why do we only see one side of the moon? And why don't we ever get to see the dark side from earth?
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No Andrea, the same bit faces us but when the moon is new or partial, as in a crescent then a bit of what you think of the "dark Side" is in fact lit by the sun but we cannot see it. visuallise the Moon orbiting the earth and the whole lot being lit by the sun then when the sun passes between the earth and the sun then the moon is lit on the far side, a good example of this is during an eclipse.
I know what waldo means john because it's a common "trick" question, ie "how much light does the moon give off?"
I'm sure Waldo will verify in a mo!
I know what waldo means john because it's a common "trick" question, ie "how much light does the moon give off?"
I'm sure Waldo will verify in a mo!
-- answer removed --
Imagine you're stood still in a room. You're the Earth.
Now get someone else to stand a few feet away from you, facing you. Get them to walk round you, while always facing you.
Because they're always facing you as they walk round you (more in a crab-like way, perhaps), their dark side is their back. The same goes for the Moon.
If you notice though, as they walk round you, they do rotate once as they have rotated around you. This can be easily seen if they hold a stick out in front of them, perpendicular from the middle of their chest. Because they're always facing you, the stick will always be pointing to you. But if you look at the stick as a bird would from above, you'll see that as they walk completely once around you, the stick rotates too (because they do).
Make sense?
Now get someone else to stand a few feet away from you, facing you. Get them to walk round you, while always facing you.
Because they're always facing you as they walk round you (more in a crab-like way, perhaps), their dark side is their back. The same goes for the Moon.
If you notice though, as they walk round you, they do rotate once as they have rotated around you. This can be easily seen if they hold a stick out in front of them, perpendicular from the middle of their chest. Because they're always facing you, the stick will always be pointing to you. But if you look at the stick as a bird would from above, you'll see that as they walk completely once around you, the stick rotates too (because they do).
Make sense?
It's Tidally locked, the tidalforces of both bodies pull them to each other, no deviation is possible unless there is gargantguan force of some sort, it's like an adult swinging a small child around, the child and adult balance each other so that neither can deviate, the centre of gravity adjusts according to the relative mass, so in effect the adult actually wobbles a little too, but they still face each other.
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