Have you ever think about why the Moon is protected by the other 8 planets in the anime “Sailor Moon”? Moon doesn’t seem to be important in our lives. At the daytime, most people go out and seek for the sunshine; at night, most people sleep at home, waiting for the next sunshine. People mostly will not pay attention on the Moon, it seems useless and worthless in our lives. Imagine one day if the moon disappeared at the morning, most people do not notice of the Moon disappeared since there might not have any obvious change. In fact, if the Moon disappeared, the world would be a mess.
What will be the impact on the ocean?
The tides are the periodic fluctuations of sea water on Earth, which caused by the tidal force of the Moon and the Sun. The reason of why sun is about 400 times bigger than the moon, but has a less effect on the tides than the moon is because the Moon has a shorter distance from the Earth. Therefore, the main influence on the tides is the Moon.
In fact, tides will be decreased by 75% since the loss of the moon’s gravitational pull. When the pollutants in the sea water cannot be discharged to the shore through the tide, a large number of seabed organisms will be harmed, and the clear ocean will become turbid. Moreover, coastal animal cannot get food that the tides washes ashore. Those coastal animals, such as crabs, shellfishes, marine snails, etc., will lose of food resources from the ocean and perish due to food shortage in the short term. Moreover, birds that feed on these coastal animal will also perish by losing food resource. Ultimately, the coastal ecosystem will be destroyed, as will coastal food chain.
What will be the impact on the animals?
Moon is the only natural light that shines in the dark. The moon provides a dim light for some predators, to observe their prey in the dark easily. The disappearance of moon will affect the predators which hunt prey at night will have difficulty hunting because the loss of moonlight. Conversely, the chances of prey being caught will be greatly reduced. This increases the survival rate of the prey, but reduces the feeding rate of the predator. A large number of predators will be malnourished and eventually die due to the inability to eat. This affect the proportion between the predators and the prey will have a hug gaps, which lead to the food chain disorder and the extinction of predators. As a result, without the moon, the food chain will be disturbed gradually, life on earth, including human, will perish within a short term due to food shortage.
What will be the impact on the time?
It is well known that day and night are formed by the angle at which the earth revolves around the sun, but without the moon, the earth would be totally different. Moon affects the movement of the earth around its axis, which means that the earth will rotate differently if the moon disappeared. The Earth stays at a 23.5 degree tilt because of the Moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth, which makes the Earth rotates in a stable position. Today’s 24 hours, day and night, and four seasons are all because the moon’s gravitational pull, which keeps the earth at a stable degree. One day, if the Moon disappeared, the Earth would rotate faster, the time of day and night will be faster, the seasons will become unpredictable. Imagine if the moon never appeared, the concept of time of the day will be completely different, maybe people would more cherish the time more than people in 24 hour.
Resources:
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-would-happen-if-moon-disappeared
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-life-earth-would-change-without-moon-disappeared-2018-3
https://www.popsci.com/what-would-happen-if-moon-suddenly-disappeared/
https://astronomy.com/news/2019/11/what-if-the-moon-disappeared-tomorrow