The days were shorter in dinosaur times

Adam Khor

And the moon was closer.

I really wish scientists talked about this kind of stuff more. I wonder how big the moon looked when full 100 million years ago?

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/11/28/3642932.htm

Rubecula

I am not sure you would have seen a noticible difference in the moon's size. Yes it was closer, but 100 million years is just a mere moment to the moon which is 4.5 BILLION years old One day it will leave altogether.

Capt'n Midnight

nah the moon won't leave, IIRC it will slow the earth down until both are tidally locked, then the moon starts coming back in again

but academic 'cos the sun will swallow us up by then


The bit I want to know is how big the first tides were - the moon was perhaps just 1/10th the distance away and the effect was far more than linear, imagine tides 10 - 100 times higher - far more mixing of primordial soup

stramotolites can tell you how many days there were in a year from way way back

Rubecula

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

nah the moon won't leave, IIRC it will slow the earth down until both are tidally locked, then the moon starts coming back in again

but academic 'cos the sun will swallow us up by then


The bit I want to know is how big the first tides were - the moon was perhaps just 1/10th the distance away and the effect was far more than linear, imagine tides 10 - 100 times higher - far more mixing of primordial soup

stramotolites can tell you how many days there were in a year from way way back

I am sure (although not 100% certain) that a number of things will happen around the same time. The moon leaves, the sun expands, and Andromeda collides with the Milkyway. All doom and gloom for dear old Earth I 'm afraid.

But yes things have changed, the speed of the earth's rotation, the closeness of the moon, the atmosphere itself, and of course the climate has changed a fair bit too. All these things have some effects on lifeforms, and are thereby coded in the fossil records. All you need to do is look for the clues. Some are obvious of course, like tropical plants in antarctica show it was warmer at some point. Some are more subtle, or involve a little sideways thinking.

Captain Chaos

Rubecula wrote: »

I am sure (although not 100% certain) that a number of things will happen around the same time. The moon leaves, the sun expands, and Andromeda collides with the Milkyway. All doom and gloom for dear old Earth I 'm afraid.

Not around the same time at all, the events will be millions of years apart. The moon will never leave the Earth unless it gets blown up by us, we mine the guts of it or a massive asteroid blows it apart.

The Earth and Moon will tidally lock each other like the way Pluto and Charon have. But the Sun will have expanded and engulfed the Earth before that has a chance to happen. Long after all that Andromeda will merge with the Milky Way, the massive black holes at the center of each galaxy will merge and a new galaxy will form over billions of years in what some are calling the Andromeda Way galaxy.

Duiske

Thread reminded me of this BBC documentary from a couple of years ago. Well worth a watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMAC0ZZxZC4