# Could we blow up the moon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013 "2012-09-07T17:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TerpBE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@TerpBE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TerpBE)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/61 "2012-09-10T19:34:38Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Yes, there’s a promising line! Perhaps instead of blowing it up, we could simply absorb it into the mantle of the Earth’s own crust. Voila greater land mass! > > How much slower would the Moon need to be to lose orbit and fall into the Earth? Could such a slowdown be achieved with our current global arsenal of nukes or what have you? Assuming an instantaneous force, it would be most efficient to do it at apogee. If we assume that the Moon remains intact, we could put it into an elliptical orbit where apogee is equal to the radius of the Moon, so that it just grazes the Earth (lots of assumptions made here, but should give us a good approximation). To do this, you’d have to reduce the Moon’s speed from 0.950858 km/sec to 0.193016 km/sec. So you’d have to slow it down by 0.757842 km/sec, or reduce its speed by 79.7% By contrast, an instantaneous prograde burst at perigee with a delta-v of just over 0.4 km/sec (increase of ~37%) could send the Moon entirely out of Earth’s orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/62 "2012-09-10T19:36:13Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Perhaps slowing it down a bit. Would that drop it into a lower orbit? To a rough approximation, the moon has a mass of 7 x 10[sup]22[/sup] kg and a velocity of about 1000 m s[sup]-1[/sup]. By 1/2 mv[sup]2[/sup] that’s, oh, 3.5 x 10[sup]28[/sup] J of kinetic energy. Tsar Bomba pumped out about 2 x 10[sup]17[/sup] J so about 100,000,000,000 of those little toys would make an appreciable dent in the Moon’s orbit if we could arrange for most of their energy to be applied as braking thrust. Off you go. If Earth’s economy is up to making and delivering ten of them a year, we’ll be done before the Sun goes out. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/63 "2012-09-10T19:41:25Z")
If [Chairface Chippendale couldn’t do it](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TKHXO3JlPxg/TQpCszNmm7I/AAAAAAAAA7o/EWcRKV0dUsE/s1600/chairfacemoon.jpg), I don’t know who could. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/64 "2012-09-10T20:15:14Z")
> [@ohnodano](#): > > The big two being the loss of tides \ As I pointed out above, we wouldn’t lose the tides, they’d just be very different. What would be the net effect of that? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/65 "2012-09-10T20:37:49Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > To a rough approximation, the moon has a mass of 7 x 10[sup]22[/sup] kg and a velocity of about 1000 m s[sup]-1[/sup]. By 1/2 mv[sup]2[/sup] that’s, oh, 3.5 x 10[sup]28[/sup] J of kinetic energy. Tsar Bomba pumped out about 2 x 10[sup]17[/sup] J so about 100,000,000,000 of those little toys would make an appreciable dent in the Moon’s orbit if we could arrange for most of their energy to be applied as braking thrust. Off you go. If Earth’s economy is up to making and delivering ten of them a year, we’ll be done before the Sun goes out. And this would drop it down by how much? If we wanted to drop the average orbit from 238, 855 miles to about 200,000 miles, what would it take? ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/66 "2012-09-10T21:33:16Z")
I just had a silly thought - what if we could make a super strong rope (out of carbon nanotubes or something) and attach one end to the Moon and the other end to the Earth, so that it would wrap itself around the Earth as it rotated and gradually draw the Moon inwards. It seems as it it would work if the rope could be made strong enough, as per Wikipedia, the rotational energy of Earth is about 5.5 times higher than the Moon’s orbital energy (the day would end up being several hours shorter, not that it would matter after the Moon crashes). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/67 "2012-09-10T22:08:24Z")
Cool! Using the moon as a tether ball. We need to kick it up into a tilted orbit first so the people on the other side of the earth can’t reach up and stop it. It’s going to have a hell of an orbital velocity just before it hits us. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/68 "2012-09-10T22:30:26Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > I just had a silly thought - what if we could make a super strong rope (out of carbon nanotubes or something) and attach one end to the Moon and the other end to the Earth, so that it would wrap itself around the Earth as it rotated and gradually draw the Moon inwards. It seems as it it would work if the rope could be made strong enough, as per Wikipedia, the rotational energy of Earth is about 5.5 times higher than the Moon’s orbital energy (the day would end up being several hours shorter, not that it would matter after the Moon crashes). Even if you could make a rope strong enough, you would have to have it anchored at both points in such a way that they don’t just rip out. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/69 "2012-09-10T22:54:29Z")
> [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](#): > > Even if you could make a rope strong enough, you would have to have it anchored at both points in such a way that they don’t just rip out. Drill holes through earth and moon. Pass rope through each hole, tie a knot on the opposite side. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/70 "2012-09-10T23:15:28Z")
[music] Well I’d like to blow up the moon, From a rocket ship high in the air. Yes, I’d like to blow up the moon, 'Cause I don’t think I’d like to live there. [/music ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/71 "2012-09-10T23:45:00Z")
> [@TerpBE](#): > > Assuming an instantaneous force, it would be most efficient to do it at apogee. If we assume that the Moon remains intact, we could put it into an elliptical orbit where apogee is equal to the radius of the Moon, so that it just grazes the Earth (lots of assumptions made here, but should give us a good approximation). > > To do this, you’d have to reduce the Moon’s speed from 0.950858 km/sec to 0.193016 km/sec. So you’d have to slow it down by 0.757842 km/sec, or reduce its speed by 79.7% > > By contrast, an instantaneous prograde burst at perigee with a delta-v of just over 0.4 km/sec (increase of ~37%) could send the Moon entirely out of Earth’s orbit. There’s that factor of two I was talking about. The energy required to create the grazing orbit (or the escape orbit) would be even more than required to blow the moon up completely, unless I’ve dropped a decimal point. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/72 "2012-09-11T00:19:38Z")
Perhaps we could do something with dark matter. If (a) we can figure out what it is and (b)how to produce or capture it, we might pack it around the moon like styrofoam peanuts in a shipping crate, slowing it down as it orbits. Then things would get interesting. And if that doesn’t work, we can try using dark energy to shove it away from the earth altogether. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/73 "2012-09-11T00:25:50Z")
All that is needed is to set up a simple SEP field and the moon disappears. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/74 "2012-09-11T05:03:35Z")
The next full moon I’ll squeeze it with my thumb and forefinger. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/75 "2012-09-11T07:01:17Z")
> [@j\_sum1](#): > > All that is needed is to set up a simple SEP field and the moon disappears. But you have to paint it pink, too. ---
**Author:** ![alindallas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@alindallas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alindallas)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/76 "2012-09-11T12:49:47Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > The next full moon I’ll squeeze it with my thumb and forefinger. You would be squooshing it’s head! ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/77 "2012-09-13T13:43:25Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Drill holes through earth and moon. Pass rope through each hole, tie a knot on the opposite side. Until some fool jumped on the rope and turned the Earth and Moon into a giant bolas… ---
**Author:** ![FeRDNYC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ferdnyc/32/14000_2.png) [@FeRDNYC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeRDNYC)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/78 "2012-09-15T13:41:18Z")
(Reaching back a bit…) > [@Kenm](#): > > It’s much cheaper to speed Earth’s orbit so it hits the moon because the nukes and rockets are already here — unless the shadow government secretly put them there so it could make the moon land on Russia. To quote something Malacandra wrote earlier in the discussion, “Um, orbits don’t do that.” Or, more specifically, I’m not sure you grasp the orbital relationship between the Earth and its satellite, if you think altering the Earth’s orbit would move it relative to the moon. The little guy’s sort of along for the ride. Where we go, it goes. 🆒 (I’m sure if you altered the Earth’s orbit _enough_, eventually the moon’s orbit would destabilize… but long before that occurred, we’d have much bigger problems — mostly related to the fact that we were now all hurtling off on a trajectory which would quickly rob the planet of its ability to support life. There’s surprisingly less wiggle-room in that than you’d think!) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/79 "2012-09-15T17:49:43Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > I just had a silly thought - what if we could make a super strong rope (out of carbon nanotubes or something) and attach one end to the Moon and the other end to the Earth, so that it would wrap itself around the Earth as it rotated and gradually draw the Moon inwards. It seems as it it would work if the rope could be made strong enough, as per Wikipedia, the rotational energy of Earth is about 5.5 times higher than the Moon’s orbital energy (the day would end up being several hours shorter, not that it would matter after the Moon crashes). Even if you had a rope strong enough, the _Moon_ isn’t strong enough. The super-rope would just rip loose from the Moon or slice through it, depending on how you attached it. On the scale of the forces we are talking about a moon or planet is about as solid as a drop of water. ---
**Author:** ![Molesworth\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Molesworth\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molesworth_2)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013/80 "2012-09-16T20:41:07Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > But. . .I like the moon. Yeah, and I “like” the Sun. Go tell it to your “Friends” on the Facebook. And all that other feely-good hippy crap you kids are into these days. Makes me sick to my stomach. Wake up, youngster, and just ask yourself for a moment: what have either of those two bastards ever done for us? They go twirling around the sky, shining on us and thinking they’re all that. But they’re not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-we-blow-up-the-moon/634013.md?page=5)