# OK, let's talk about the full moon effect **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657 "2019-03-06T22:52:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/21 "2019-03-07T14:02:12Z")
I think that the extra light of a full moon would have had an impact over a century ago but not today. Very few people seem to notice or care what the phase of the moon is. And trying to determine if there was a full moon affect c1875, never mind earlier, would be extremely hard to do. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/22 "2019-03-07T15:25:13Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > Is it at all feasible to shine a strong light onto the moon so it always appears full and this waffling will end? 😃 One of my favorite what-ifs: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/](https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/) ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/23 "2019-03-07T16:58:37Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > One of my favorite what-ifs: > [Laser Pointer](https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/) 🙂 Aha! Of course, we don’t need to go as far as blowing up the moon, just enough to end the waffling would do the trick. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/24 "2019-03-07T18:03:09Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > Similar, I used to work as computer support and programmer for a county 911 agency. I was curious so I pulled our case statistics for something like a full year to see if the numbers were higher during full moons. Not a bit. It was a little bit disappointing, I admit. > > Some interesting things that I did see: there are more house fires when it’s raining, no idea why. And people definitely get drunk and fight more (so more domestic disputes) on Friday and Saturday nights. April 19th is Full Moon Friday! And it’s Good Friday! And the start of a four day weekend in some places! I would urge everyone who has access to…data…to check for spikes in…stuff. j ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/25 "2019-03-07T18:25:16Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > When you don’t have electric lights, a full moon is a great way to light your way at night. That means more people will be out and about during the full moon phases, leading to more activity, both positive or negative. A lot of otherwise hidden stuff can happen more frequently when you can see what you’re doing, but the drawback is others can also see what you’re doing. Crazy behaviour happens more often during the full moon because everybody is outdoors for longer, and you can see them more easily. > > Then there’s the confirmation bias. The full moon phases ought to be at most three nights, but it’s easily fudged to five, and at a pinch seven. That’s a quarter of the month. 25% of the time when something unusual happens you can consciously attribute to the full moon, and 75% can be unconsciously dismissed as an anomaly. And when the moon is noticeably full, that means that the weather is nice enough for more people to be outside at night, having more accidents, arguments, fun, whatever. No one talks about the full moon effect when it is hidden by crappy weather. ---
**Author:** ![Emergency911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/43a26b/32.png) [@Emergency911](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emergency911)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/26 "2019-03-07T21:24:54Z")
I’ve worked in a 911 center for over twenty years. There was a time that I would have sworn that the full moon did something. On a very slow midnight shift, my co-workers and I pulled up statistics for every full moon in the previous year. We compared that data with the same day the week before and after. The differences were neglidible. We were shocked. We all had stories of the “full moon night from hell”. After some deep thought we decided that we thought it was true because we would notice that it was a full moon and every call that was beyond the “norm” just confirmed to us that it was because of the full moon. Of course this was far from scientific, none of us were wearing white coats and we all left our safety glasses at home, ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/27 "2019-03-07T21:31:45Z")
This is what passes for woo logic: The moon affects water, i.e., oceans, creating tides. A human is 97% water. Therefore, the moon can move a human. Or maybe just in the brain. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/28 "2019-03-07T21:34:17Z")
I like the legend that I first saw in an Auel book. The Earth is Gaia, a female, and the moon is her mate. Once a month he turns his back to her (probably because he does not want her to hear him muttering the phrases of the moon). ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/29 "2019-03-07T21:36:36Z")
My [favorite article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias) on the “Full Moon Effect”. > [@Emergency911](#): > > I’ve worked in a 911 center for over twenty years. There was a time that I would have sworn that the full moon did something. On a very slow midnight shift, my co-workers and I pulled up statistics for every full moon in the previous year. We compared that data with the same day the week before and after. The differences were neglidible. We were shocked. We all had stories of the “full moon night from hell”. After some deep thought we decided that we thought it was true because we would notice that it was a full moon and every call that was beyond the “norm” just confirmed to us that it was because of the full moon. Of course this was far from scientific, none of us were wearing white coats and we all left our safety glasses at home, I worked in dispatch for 5 years and heard the same stuff. All it was good for was making people either dread that night or brag about having it. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/30 "2019-03-07T21:45:04Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > Some interesting things that I did see: there are more house fires when it’s raining, no idea why. And people definitely get drunk and fight more (so more domestic disputes) on Friday and Saturday nights. Power outages so people light candles? ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/31 "2019-03-07T23:48:03Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Your reading comprehension is not my responsibility. Why? Did someone else write your post? I find this a really weird attitude. Anyways, apologies for having misunderstood you. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/32 "2019-03-08T00:09:32Z")
> [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](#): > > I find this a really weird attitude. I’ve been on the SDMB for 20 years and the number of times I have to repeat myself using almost the exact same words and people still don’t understand me is ridiculously high. It happens on Twitter too. I reread my post and saw that all the details were there, you just misunderstood. I didn’t see any need to clarify. It wasn’t personal, I was just a bit blunt with it. I may have been in a bit of a funk at that moment. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/33 "2019-03-08T00:38:56Z")
> [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](#): > > This would seem to make sense. But the world is not organised around what seems to make sense, so we need to look at the evidense, which in this case is lacking. Fair point - I was operating under the assumption that the data did indicate some sort of statistical anomaly during full moons. If it doesn’t, then the answer to the OP’s question is even simpler: because most people don’t bother to look at the data. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/34 "2019-03-08T01:12:11Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > The phase of the moon affects the tides in an odd way - the moon’s tides are the same regardless of phase, but the phase of the moon is related to the position of the sun relative to the moon. Therefore the phase of the moon is related to whether the solar tides will add to the lunar tides or cancel them out. Thanks! I always wondered about this but never looked into it. How the moon works is something that confuses me. To me, it didn’t make sense why the earth doesn’t eclipse the moon during a full moon. Wouldn’t the sun need to be directly behind the earth in order to light the complete half of the moon that faces us? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/35 "2019-03-08T01:46:21Z")
Does this help? > **[Why aren't there eclipses every month?](https://phys.org/news/2015-11-eclipses-month.html)** > > If the sun, Earth and moon are lined up, shouldn't we get a lunar and solar eclipse every month? Clearly, we don't, but why not? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/36 "2019-03-08T01:52:50Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > Power outages so people light candles? I think it is simply because people are inside the house more when it is raining, increasing the probability of them doing something that will start a fire inside the house. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/37 "2019-03-08T02:02:21Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Does this help? > [Why aren't there eclipses every month?](https://m.phys.org/news/2015-11-eclipses-month.html) Yes! Thanks. It’s the 5.14 degree angle that I was missing. But I think it is consistent with my assumption that we’re not truly seeing the _full_ half of the moon during a full moon. There’s a bit missing due to that angle. So I now assume that a full moon refers to the point in the month during which we see the maximum portion of the moon that would be possible to see in that month (and not literally the whole half). I also found a video I first saw years ago describing how tides work, and why most people don’t quite have the complete picture. Some of you may be interested: [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pwChk4S99i4](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pwChk4S99i4) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/38 "2019-03-08T03:07:04Z")
The moon is the second largest natural satellite relative to its primary. There are bigger moons around the outer planets, but the planets they orbit are very much bigger than Earth. The only moon relatively larger WRT its primary is Charon, which orbits a barycenter outside the body of Pluto, and the two are tidally locked to each other, so if your were on Pluto, Charon would always be in the same position in the sky from where you are standing. /useless-trivia ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/39 "2019-03-09T20:32:06Z")
What 911 said. “Every nurse, cop, or paramedic will tell you things happen during full moons.” No. Only the ones who fall victim to noticing errors. I’m a nurse who has worked on dementia units, and in other mental health settings. Chistmas makes things worse. Sundays are a bad night in nursing homes. Heat makes people act out. Full moon is just a notcing error. For every crazy night with a full moon story people have other crazy night without a full moon stories. Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Cindycat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@Cindycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cindycat)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2019, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657/40 "2019-03-10T12:07:01Z")
It may seem like it has an effect because people believe it does. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy. I admit I do believe in Mercury retrograde’s disruptive power though! Oh, and I believe that when I see 11:11 on the clock that angels are around me (um, yeah…right). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-lets-talk-about-the-full-moon-effect/830657.md?page=3)