|
Why Does The Earth Have A Moon ????
The activities of the moon affect us all in many ways, such as, climate and the length of a day. The gravitational pull between earth and moon also affects the liquids on the earth—the oceans. Each day, the water in the ocean is pulled upward about three feet by the gravity of the moon. The water closest to the moon bulges toward the moon and the water on the opposite side of the earth bulges away from the earth. High tides crash against islands and continents.
This movement of ocean water puts the brakes on the spin of the earth. Without the moon, the earth would rotate about every six hours, rather than, about every 24 hours. If the rotation were faster, the earth’s wind currents would also be faster. For example, Jupiter rotates about every 10 hours and the winds on Jupiter are like constant howling hurricanes.
Unlike other planets that have a solid surface (without water rolling around) those planet surfaces hardly move compared to Earth. To deal with this movement, the Earth has built-in stress points (Teutonic Plates). Earthquakes and volcanoes occur almost everyday someplace on land or in the water. The Earth has a constant rolling action from the moon’s gravitational pull that mix the water in the oceans. This process creates friction that then produces energy. Some of the energy helps heat the earth and some of the energy pushes at the moon, moving the moon away from earth at about two inches per year. This fact was confirmed by the experiments associated with Apollo 12 in 1969.
Satellites that monitor the oceans have documented numerous ocean currents. The Humboldt Stream keeps the coastline of Peru and Chile, quite chilly. El Nino is a warm ocean stream that the affects the North American Pacific Coast and La Nina is the cooler counterpart. The Gulf Stream is the warm ocean current from the tropics. In the past, Spanish galleons transported goods from Mexico to Spain with the help of the Gulf Stream.
The Sun also has an effect on the ocean currents by heating the ocean water around the equator. The warmer water evaporates and is returned to earth in rain. Colder water holds more oxygen so the mixing of water keeps oxygen in the water for the ocean fish. Because the ocean has a series of mountains and valleys—irregular under water terrain--currents don’t flow continuously in the ocean but are re-circulated among these obstructions as they continue around the globe These water currents also transport marine life and wear away at the coastlines. Water on the earth is in an endless cycle of circulation. Water from oceans evaporates into the atmosphere to form clouds. Clouds produce rain (and snow), which is absorbed into the ground by gravity, or flows down to rivers, lakes and then back to the ocean. Plants and animals use some of this water, and some water is evaporated into the atmosphere, but most of the water is returned to the ocean.
Underground water travels through spaces in the soil and the sand and rocks naturally clean the water. This area of soil and rocks is the saturated zone. Above that is the water table. The water table rises or falls depending on the amount of rain or snow. Some people dread a fast snow melt because the water table will rise-—sometimes higher than the basement floor, which results in standing water in the basement. Desert areas have soil that lacks moisture and a very low water table.
Many people assume that groundwater is in huge underground lakes or rivers but that is not true. There are some ponds inside caves but groundwater is held in porous soil, or rocky soil, much the same way a sponge holds water. Wells are drilled to tap into these saturated water zones. The water seeps into the well pipe and rises to the level of saturation, then the water is pumped up. A straw in a glass of water easily demonstrates how a well pipe works. Place finger over end of straw and remove from glass. Straw then contains water at the same depth as the water in the glass.
Under water volcanoes also help oxygenate oceans and bring warmth and nutrients to the water. Some of these water pockets near volcanoes produce geysers. Water seeps downward from the surface of the Earth and is heated when it meets up with the hot rocks surrounding magma. The boiling water then explodes upward to form a geyser. There are about 1000 geysers on Earth with Yellowstone National Park having the most famous geyser—Old Faithful, which erupts every 60 to 90 minutes and blasts a few thousand gallons of boiling hot water between 100 and 200 feet into the air. Geysers can also be found in Russia, Chile, New Zealand and Iceland.
Cold water can be found in some small underground rocky pockets. If tapped, it can become an artesian well—a rarity. An artesian well can be understood by using a garden hose. Fill hose with water and hold each end upward to represent the flow of the water pocket from mountain to valley to mountain. Punch a hole in the lowest part of the hose (the valley) and water will shoot upward from the hole just like an artesian well. Another interesting fact is that the water in both ends of the hose will always be at the same level even if the ends of the hose are at different levels. This is because the pull of gravity on the water creates a level.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, 97.24% of all water is in the oceans, 2.14% is in the ice caps and glaciers, .61% is ground water and the remaining .99% are fresh-water lakes, rivers and the atmosphere. With this in mind, it’s totally amazing what a huge mass of water is under the jurisdiction of The Moon and moved around everyday.
Why is ocean water salty and fresh-water isn’t salty. Actually, all water is salty. Ocean water is just saltier because rivers empty into the ocean, the water is evaporated and the minerals stay in the water. The Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake are inland bodies of water that do not have a water exit so evaporation leaves minerals behind. The rivers of the world carry billions of tons of dissolved salt/minerals into the oceans each year. About the same amount of salt is deposited onto the sea floor at the same time and that keeps the oceans at about the same salt level.
The salt in the ocean lowers the freezing point of water from 32°F (0°C) down to 28.8 °F (-1.8 °C). This fact is used when making ice cream in an ice mixer and also used on icy highways. When salt is added to water, the freezing point is lowered. A salty ocean helps keep the earth a bit warmer and the Moon helps move this water around. Sea ice does form at the poles but icebergs are fresh water because they came from snow, evaporated water.
Until 1610 when Galileo discovered that Jupiter also had “moons”, people thought that The Moon was the only moon that existed. Since then other moons have been given names to avoid confusion.
Earth’s moon orbits the Earth about every 27.3 days and at 2,300 mph. Because of the unique synchronization of the Moon orbit to the earth orbit, only one moon hemisphere faces us. The rocks and soil brought back by astronauts were extremely dry because the moon has no lakes, no rivers and no oceans. There are no mountains on the moon like we have on earth but there is damage from comets, meteoroids and asteroids just like all other Planets. Some of the rims on largest craters are over 10,000 feet tall and are round and smooth.
There is no atmosphere on the Moon. When astronauts were on the moon they needed radios because sound needs an atmosphere to travel through. And, footprints from decades ago are still there because there is no wind and no rain to erode the surface. Very few craters are on the earth because of wind and water erosion. Compared to Earth, the planets and our Moon are total wastelands—“tohu and bohu”. The Earth appears to be the jewel in the physical Universe.
The above is just a very brief overview of why we have a moon. As we can see from how the Moon interacts with the liquids on the earth, life on earth would be very different without our Moon. Now, let’s take what we know about the Moon and apply it to Creation Week.
There are two records of Creation in the Bible. One is in Genesis and describes the event from the perspective of the Earth / man. The other description of Creation is in the Book of Job and is from God’s point of view looking down to earth. When the two accounts are read together a better understanding of Creation is acquired.
There are some Protestant books that claim our moon came into existence on the fourth day of Creation Week listed in Genesis. They also claim our sun came into existence at that time, as well. This idea does not agree with the Bible. God inspired and preserved the text for us. Each creation day in Genesis concludes with the “evening and the morning” were the first day, or second day, or third day, or fourth day, etc. These evenings and mornings are from words that describe 24-hour periods of time. Actually, time, as we know it began on the first day of Creation Week. Day One also began the week, the year and the month.
If our moon and sun would have came into existence on Day Four, then God would have had to have numerous miracles to hold things together until he got around to creating a moon and sun. God would also have been planting new grass and new trees in hurricane force winds on Day Three. The sun would not be around to warm the soil or water, and the moon would not be around to slow the spin of the Earth until the following day. In fact, the “day” cycle, without a miracle, would have been about 6 hours long. The cold ocean water would be out of control and would need some other miracles to keep it from destroying the grass and trees, or from generating a snow storm, until Day Four when the Sun and Moon arrived.
But, God is not the author of confusion. He designed and created with intelligence and gave us the answer to the Protestant Creation Error with the account in Job 38:33. On Day Four God set the “ordinance of heaven” and He “set the dominion thereof in the earth”. Or, in plainer English, God tweaked the solar system to provide people on the Earth with navigation points and seasons. He assigned the sun and moon to “be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” (Gen 1:14) God created the calendar!
Since light travels through space and takes a lot of time to get to the earth, it seems likely that God did something special to get the light from other suns, moons and stars to Earth quickly. If He hadn’t, would light from the stars have reached us, yet?
Remember that God separated light from dark on the First Day. The sun was the light and the new moon was dark as the earth orbited the Sun. On Day Four light from stars became visible and the moon began to give light on Earth with the first crescent. It all follows logical order when Genesis and Job are studied together.
If the moon were to have been created on the Fourth Day as some Protestants claim, then the month would begin on the Fourth Day. A year would have two starting points—356 days (beginning with Day One creation) or, 12 months (beginning with Day Four creation). Calendar confusion, for sure!
Then, was this Protestant Day Four creation a bright full moon? Altering Day Four of Creation Week alters when the Holy Days are kept—it changes everything. It creates confusion and who is the author of confusion???
Pat Homan
For more information, request “Postponements Another Mystery Of The Ages” booklet, or “Special Calendar Issue.”
|