{"id":25726,"date":"2021-10-15T09:24:58","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T09:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=100761"},"modified":"2021-10-15T09:46:13","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T09:46:13","slug":"what-would-happen-if-the-moon-exploded","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/what-would-happen-if-the-moon-exploded\/","title":{"rendered":"What would happen if the Moon exploded?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Iain Todd\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 15 October 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The QI Elves are back with their latest book Funny You Should Ask\u2026Again<\/em><\/a>, posing solutions to some of the questions about Earth, the Universe and everyday live that they most often get asked.<\/p>\n

To mark the book\u2019s release, we\u2019ve been given a sneak peek of one question that will appeal to BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/em> readers and astronomy fans\u2026<\/p>\n

What would happen to the planet if someone blew up the Moon?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\""Artist's\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Credit: Cokada \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

If the Moon exploded during daytime, surfers would be the first people to notice.<\/p>\n

The Earth\u2019s tides are mostly caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon, and while the Sun also has a small effect, the surf would be a lot less \u2018up\u2019 if the Moon disappeared.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s bad news for surfers, but even worse for animals like crabs, mussels and starfish, which rely on the tides for survival.<\/p>\n

You might be able to go without a crab sandwich or some moules marini\u00e8re, but many other animals rely on this seafood.<\/p>\n

The subsequent collapse of the tidal ecosystem would almost certainly lead to mass extinctions.<\/p>\n

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