<p>There would be variations in axial tilt over time scales similar to those experienced by Mars, on the order of millions of years.</p>
<p>The rotation of the Earth wouldn't speed up, it just wouldn't slow down as quite as quickly, again there'd be nothing to notice over a decade or a century, but perhaps after a few million years you might notice that the day was only five minutes longer, instead of 10.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-17T21:06:01.100Z
2024-06-17T21:06:01.100Z
James K
<p>There's a lot of articles and videos on the topic of what would happen if the moon were to suddenly disappear. Two consequences that seem to come up often are an increase in variation of Earth's axial tilt and the shortening of days as Earth's rotation speeds up. On what time scale would these changes occur? Would the change in Earth's tilt be noticeable on a yearly basis? By the decade or century? How quickly would the Earths days begin to shorten? Would this be noticeable in a life time or be a long term trend over a greater time scale?</p>
<p>Edited to add sources as requested:
<a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-would-happen-if-moon-disappeared" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-would-happen-if-moon-disappeared</a></p>
<p><a href="https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/What-Would-Earth-Be-Like-With-No-Moon" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/What-Would-Earth-Be-Like-With-No-Moon</a></p>
<p><div class="youtube-embed"><div>
                <iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XMlrdUNb1is?start=0"></iframe>
            </div></div></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-16T04:40:59.480Z
Would Earth's rotation speed up? Or would the rotation just stop slowing down?
Tom
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-16T18:11:02.373Z
The rotation would continue to slow down, just the rate of the slowing would decrease. Solar tides are still in play. That said, if you're going to say "There's a lot of articles and videos..." you should link or name them.
notovny
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-18T10:20:25.443Z
The thing I'd be worried about most are the floods happening due to the sudden lack of tidal forces.
asdfex
<the-moon><earth><orbital-mechanics><hypothetical><climate>
How quickly would these changes happen if the moon were to suddenly disappear?
matthew choy
# How quickly would these changes happen if the moon were to suddenly disappear?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-06-16)

There's a lot of articles and videos on the topic of what would happen if the moon were to suddenly disappear. Two consequences that seem to come up often are an increase in variation of Earth's axial tilt and the shortening of days as Earth's rotation speeds up. On what time scale would these changes occur? Would the change in Earth's tilt be noticeable on a yearly basis? By the decade or century? How quickly would the Earths days begin to shorten? Would this be noticeable in a life time or be a long term trend over a greater time scale?

Edited to add sources as requested:
<https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-would-happen-if-moon-disappeared>

<https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/What-Would-Earth-Be-Like-With-No-Moon>

**Tags:** the-moon, earth, orbital-mechanics, hypothetical, climate

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Would Earth's rotation speed up? Or would the rotation just stop slowing down?  
> **username_2**: The rotation would continue to slow down, just the rate of the slowing would decrease. Solar tides are still in play. That said, if you're going to say "There's a lot of articles and videos..." you should link or name them.  
> **username_3**: The thing I'd be worried about most are the floods happening due to the sudden lack of tidal forces.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-06-17. Score: 4

There would be variations in axial tilt over time scales similar to those experienced by Mars, on the order of millions of years.

The rotation of the Earth wouldn't speed up, it just wouldn't slow down as quite as quickly, again there'd be nothing to notice over a decade or a century, but perhaps after a few million years you might notice that the day was only five minutes longer, instead of 10.


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