<p>No the energy required to do this would cause the moon to melt.</p>
<p>However the story of the spitting of the moon supposes a supernatural cause, and one which is not bound by the physical laws.</p>
<p>God could split the moon and put it back together by his word. And God could arrange so that only some people saw it and others looked away.  When you bring God into your explanations the answer is always &quot;yes he can&quot;.  That's what being omnipotent means.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-30T17:48:59.460Z
2020-10-30T17:54:26.923Z
2020-10-30T17:54:26.923Z
James K
<p>Before asking my question, I'd like to clarify why I'm asking about something so absurd. A supersitious claim has been bought to me that in the past, the moon was split and seperated as a sign. My attempts at dissuading them by pointing out that half of the planet failed to observe it has been met with the reply that this is because it took place for a short period of time. After which ofcourse the moon was returned to it's original form, leaving no evidence :)</p>
<p>I would like to know if there would've been any effect observable on Earth resulting from such a massive body being split in two. Perhaps something to do with the effect of the sudden change in the Moon's gravity on earth? Or perhaps some other factor that would make such an act impossible?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-30T15:57:39.903Z
Someone who believes that 70 quintillion tons of rock can be separated and reassembled during recorded history without anyone else noticing or any obvious effects will handwave away any other attempt to convince them. It's definitely a lot easier to convince a small number of people to claim the event had occurred, and requires no supernatural intervention.
notovny
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-30T16:25:03.100Z
Your friend says that after the splitting, the moon was returned to it's original form, leaving no evidence? Well, "What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."-Hitchen's Razor.  It's a waste of your time and totally unnecessary for you to refute his claim, instead I think it should be immediately dismissed.
Connor Garcia
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-30T17:01:51.143Z
A friend of mine does Behavior Coaching for a living.  I have had interactions with flat-earth believers and on *one* occasion my friend was with me.  His observation is that they are often tied to their position for emotional reasons ... not rational reasons.  Rational arguments may be ignored or viewed as an attack on whatever ties them to the emotional position (e.g. is your argument attacking the teaching of their religion, etc.?)  Your arguments are unlikely to change their position.
Tim Campbell
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-30T17:19:55.030Z
@notovny (I'm xiu xiu. I wanted to ask the question anonymously because i was embarrassed but lost the browser session and now cant comment as xiu xiu) So far it was the lack of sightings that i tried to argue using. You mention "obvious effects". Could you point out some?
MrFregg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-30T17:24:26.237Z
I think this the Muslim legend of the splitting of the Moon by the prophet Muhammed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_of_the_moon#:~:text=The%20splitting%20of%20the%20moon%20%28Arabic%3A%20%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B4%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%82%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%85%D8%B1,such%20as%20the%20Asbab%20al-nuzul%20%28context%20of%20revelation%29.   Of course an infinitely powerful god could violate all physical laws, and of course atmospheric phenonomenon could create an optical illusion about the Moon, and of course Muhammed's believers could convince themselves they saw the moon split.
M. A. Golding
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-30T17:38:09.663Z
@M.A.Golding That is in fact the source of my disagreement with him. I follow a different interpretation of this which is why I disagreed that the moon was literally split.
MrFregg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-30T17:41:42.840Z
No current technology is even close to that. If the parts are not too far away, and the split/rejoin happens without other major effects (like a big explosion or so), then it would not have any effect to the Earth. The problem is that we coould not do this with a rock thouandths to big, here on the Earth.
peterh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-31T07:33:50.620Z
It was probably a moon dog. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_dog
PM 2Ring
<the-moon><gravity>
Could it have been possible for the Moon to be split without any observable effect on Earth?
xiu xiu
# Could it have been possible for the Moon to be split without any observable effect on Earth?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-10-30)

Before asking my question, I'd like to clarify why I'm asking about something so absurd. A supersitious claim has been bought to me that in the past, the moon was split and seperated as a sign. My attempts at dissuading them by pointing out that half of the planet failed to observe it has been met with the reply that this is because it took place for a short period of time. After which ofcourse the moon was returned to it's original form, leaving no evidence :)

I would like to know if there would've been any effect observable on Earth resulting from such a massive body being split in two. Perhaps something to do with the effect of the sudden change in the Moon's gravity on earth? Or perhaps some other factor that would make such an act impossible?

**Tags:** the-moon, gravity

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Someone who believes that 70 quintillion tons of rock can be separated and reassembled during recorded history without anyone else noticing or any obvious effects will handwave away any other attempt to convince them. It's definitely a lot easier to convince a small number of people to claim the event had occurred, and requires no supernatural intervention.  
> **username_2**: Your friend says that after the splitting, the moon was returned to it's original form, leaving no evidence? Well, "What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."-Hitchen's Razor.  It's a waste of your time and totally unnecessary for you to refute his claim, instead I think it should be immediately dismissed.  
> **username_3**: A friend of mine does Behavior Coaching for a living.  I have had interactions with flat-earth believers and on *one* occasion my friend was with me.  His observation is that they are often tied to their position for emotional reasons ... not rational reasons.  Rational arguments may be ignored or viewed as an attack on whatever ties them to the emotional position (e.g. is your argument attacking the teaching of their religion, etc.?)  Your arguments are unlikely to change their position.  
> **username_4**: @username_1 (I'm username_0. I wanted to ask the question anonymously because i was embarrassed but lost the browser session and now cant comment as username_0) So far it was the lack of sightings that i tried to argue using. You mention "obvious effects". Could you point out some?  
> **username_5**: I think this the Muslim legend of the splitting of the Moon by the prophet Muhammed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_of_the_moon#:~:text=The%20splitting%20of%20the%20moon%20%28Arabic%3A%20%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B4%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%82%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%85%D8%B1,such%20as%20the%20Asbab%20al-nuzul%20%28context%20of%20revelation%29.   Of course an infinitely powerful god could violate all physical laws, and of course atmospheric phenonomenon could create an optical illusion about the Moon, and of course Muhammed's believers could convince themselves they saw the moon split.  
> **username_4**: @M.A.Golding That is in fact the source of my disagreement with him. I follow a different interpretation of this which is why I disagreed that the moon was literally split.  
> **username_6**: No current technology is even close to that. If the parts are not too far away, and the split/rejoin happens without other major effects (like a big explosion or so), then it would not have any effect to the Earth. The problem is that we coould not do this with a rock thouandths to big, here on the Earth.  
> **username_7**: It was probably a moon dog. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_dog  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_8 on 2020-10-30. Score: 5

No the energy required to do this would cause the moon to melt.

However the story of the spitting of the moon supposes a supernatural cause, and one which is not bound by the physical laws.

God could split the moon and put it back together by his word. And God could arrange so that only some people saw it and others looked away. When you bring God into your explanations the answer is always "yes he can". That's what being omnipotent means.


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