The Ship

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 10 Jan 2012, 18:12 · from 2012-January.txt.gz

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From: danldo at gmail.com (Dan'l Danehy-Oakes)
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:12:04 -0800
Subject: (urth) The Ship
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W292BA468457B4BBFC08466CF990 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W292BA468457B4BBFC08466CF990 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <CAJ8=rtg4obTxb9zQhcV2DeW04-yPThi_dM9iDqrFpLmD8SdX4g at mail.gmail.com>

Lee Berman wrote:

> (I disagree that a stationary moon over the course of a few hours would cause cataclysms.
> Why would it? I think it would just maintain high tides for a while. Maybe change wind
> patterns. Far less cataclysmic than adding a second moon.

Certainly less cataclysmic than "adding a second moon," which I don't
believe anyone has suggested, but more cataclysmic than you apparently
understand. The tidal effects of Lune are limited by its constant
motion relative to Urth (that is to say, by Urth's rotation on its
axis). If Lune were to alter its orbital velocity so that it was
stationary relative to the surface of Urth -- by the way, an
unimaginably immense amount of energy would be required to do this,
and it would have consequences immediately noticeable in the phases of
Lune -- the tides would not merely "maintain" but pile up, pushing
first the oceans and then the crust of Urth into increasingly (with,
admittedly, limits) distorted forms. Earthquakes and floods _would_ be
the result. (I don't mention volcanoes because Urth is said to have a
dead core.)

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes

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