# Destroying the Moon: 10 Handy Methods

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-the-moon-10-handy-methods/310165>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [June 28, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-the-moon-10-handy-methods/310165 "2005-06-28T07:37:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-the-moon-10-handy-methods/310165/1 "2005-06-28T07:37:19Z")

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In his October 2000 column, the Perfect Master addressed the inquiry, “[I plan to destroy the moon. What effect would this have on the earth?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/001027.html)”.

Later that month, a poster wondered [how that task might be accomplished](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=44050&highlight=moon).

Well science presses onwards. Gentleman and scholar Sam Hughes has now compiled the [Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth](http://www.livescience.com/technology/destroy_earth_mp.html). ([Alternate link](http://ned.ucam.org/%7Esdh31/misc/destroy.html) (includes forum!).)

Given this list, destroying the moon should be child’s play: as [the Bad Astronomer noted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=906111&postcount=35) the Earth, “has 81 times the mass of the Moon, so it takes 81\*81 = 6500 times the energy to blow up the Earth.”

The remainder I will leave as an exercise for the reader.

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-the-moon-10-handy-methods/310165/2 "2005-06-28T11:13:18Z")

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According to H G Wells, IIRC, the moon is gone by the year 802,701 … but I don’t recollect whether that was a natural catastrophe or done by the hand of man.

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**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-the-moon-10-handy-methods/310165/3 "2005-06-28T18:31:59Z")

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Actually, the moon disappears _after_ the year 802,701. Pretty mild spoiler, IMHO:The Traveller escapes the baddies in that year, pushes the time levers forward and, as the thousands of days dial accelerates into a blur, notices to our shock/horror, [“All trace of the moon had vanished.”](http://www.ebooks3.com/cgi-bin/ebooks/ebook.cgi?folder=the_time_machine&next=11) It appears to be some sort of extinction event. Civilization has ended; one surmises that the cause was human or post-human folly.