On 2002-03-18 15:24, DoctorDon wrote:

"I did this whole calculation as part of my PhD oral exam back in 1995."

Interesting, I left Michigan in 1960.

I must stand by the word "conjecture", and find fault with "extrapolation".


The facts *again* are:
The Moon does run slow (recession of nodes), however there is no evidence that it is "slowing".
The Earth does run slow (leap second), again there is no evidence that it is "slowing". The word "slowing" is conjecture.

How could you extrapolate a stoppage when you have no proof of slowing?

"Both not true. Think about it, if the moon is moving further away, it *has* to slow down. Kepler's third law."

The Earth goes around the Sun, the Moon goes around the Earth, which goes faster? What about Newton's first law, if a body is put in motion at a speed which is to slow, it will continue to fall farther and farther behind:-)
What if when the Moon came to orbit Earth it was going to slow, would it not fall farther and farther away until such time as its given speed satisfied the orbital radius. (recession of nodes)
Also *suppose* that the Moon came to Earth with its speed fixed (as per Newton), and *suppose* that speed to be to slow, hence the Moon would tug the Earth from a true solar orbit. (leap second)


Let me repeat myself.
If you locate the *center of gravity* of a mass (point around which all its weight is equally distributed), and then suspend that mass from that point it will be in perfect balance and will not rotate, or will continue to rotate indefinitely. The Earth's *center of gravity* suspends the Moon's *center of gravity* and vice versa.
Thus the Earth cannot torque the Moon, and the Moon cannot torque the Earth.

Bulges and torque are irrelevant:-(


Gary

PS We have talked of the Earth and Moon slowing, Newton said for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Where is the speed up?
Just joking I know the *pat* answer.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Gary Redmond on 2002-03-20 11:56 ]</font>