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Vent: I just found out the moon is drifting 1.5 inches away from Earth every year, and now I'm stuck debating if that's a big deal or not
I was reading a NASA page last night and saw that number. 1.5 inches. About the same rate my fingernails grow. Half the people I mention this to say who cares, it's a tiny amount. The other half say over millions of years that adds up to something huge. So which is it? Does the moon leaving actually matter for tides and eclipses in our lifetime, or is this just a fun fact that never affects anything? Curious what you all think.
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faithbaker1d ago
Did you know the tides were actually stronger way back when? I used to brush this off as a fun fact too, like oh neat, the moon is leaving, whatever. But then I read that Earth used to spin way faster and the moon was much closer, and the tides were huge because of it. The moon pulls the water and that drag actually slows our spin down over time, so this drift is tied to our days getting longer. It won't change anything for us, but it's wild that the same slow crawl shaped how the planet works now.
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