Simple Question, Hard Answer

Did you know that a relatively unusual astromonical event is going to happen tonight?
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/blue-moon-years-eve/story?id=9448523

Yup, we have a "blue moon", or an extra full moon, on the final night of the year...
giving us 13 full moons in this calendar year instead of the slightly more common 12. Most of us won't really notice, since it'll probably be cloudy, but this whole thing made me recall one of the toughest questions in all of astronomy...
A question that is both tough yet simple and at least to me is convincing evidence that what we see in astronomical terms isn't all just happenstance. It isn't just the end results of a huge and random explosion...it was clearly designed with proper laws in place, even if all of human intelligence still cannot figure out those laws or understand them.

It is actually quite a simple question, but you try to come up with an answer.
Even the top experts with Einstein-like intelligence and capabilities still dispute the answer to this very simple question.

"Why does the same side of the moon always face the earth?"

(and please don't bring up the term "dark side" of the moon, because it certainly isn't always dark although since we cannot see it, the other side might as well be dark!)

You think you know? Then step up and let the world's community of top scientists have your answer....they are waiting.....
the most commonly presented answer is that it's due to the tides, but that answer falls far short of being really adequate or universally accepted.

In fact, here's a funny page----on a Wiki answer page someone asks this very question about why the same side of the moon is always visible..
and two different people post an answer...and the two answers differ completely...
one guy uses the tidal answer, the other uses the molten planet answer - so you see, we just cannot get a consensus here!
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_we_always_see_the_same_side_of_the_moon


I am sure you know.... that for thousands and thousands of years, the moon has pretty much shown the exact same side towards the earth.
We here on earth can never see much more than a little over 50% of the moon's surface from our vantage point. (the actual amount that can be seen from earth is a bit OVER 50% since we reside on a planet that's wide enough that as the earth rotates, we get a viewing perspective that's a little wider than just a single pinpoint for observation purposes.)

But- supposedly this wasn't always so that the moon always showed us the same face, since the moon's rotation may have been faster in the distant past...but we don't really know - it's all just guesswork as nobody was here to notice.

But is it just a PURE coincidence that the current face of the moon is always pointed towards earth??

If the moon's time of rotation and of revolution around the earth differed by a mere 0.0001%, then it would easily be detectable, and over a few years, the "unseen" side of the moon would gradually come into view...
BUT IT NEVER DOES.....NEVER!!

And even the top scientists in the history of the world have absolutely NO widely accepted explanation of this phenomenon..

Does that puzzle you??
It sure puzzles me.....I actually have my undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy and I find this intriguing!
Wouldn't you think that someone would find a reasonable explanation for such a relatively common phenomenon - since Mercury's orbit around the sun is of the exact same nature - same side always pointing towards the center of it's orbit..facing the sun. and there are other examples too, but then take Jupiter or Saturn for example...
they each have gobs of moons, and NONE of them follow the same scenario....none of them have the same side always facing the mother-planet.

Here's a guy who tries to argue that the earth's tidal forces are responsible, but he even admits he still can't prove it and admits it isn't easy at all to show it or support it...
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/astronomy/faq/part5/section-20.html

These guys also use a variant of the earth's "tidal" action reasoning, and it's gravity...thus they claim the moon used to spin a lot faster, but the earth's forces have now slowed it down and we just happen to be living at the precise time in all of history that the moon's rotation has coincidentally slowed to exactly the same time as it's revolution around the earth.
Of course, they then offer NO explanation whatsoever why such a theoretical force that is responsible for this has now turned itself off, and the moon is now locked in at the present rate instead continuing to slow down as would be expected if their theory had even an ounce of reason!
http://www.moonconnection.com/moon-same-side.phtml

Others have argued it is due to forces that existed long ago when earth and the moon were molten or liquid, but those explanations cannot be valid because as soon as the bodies solidified, the loss of those forces, would result in gradually the moon's rotation and revolution varying slightly.
But even though they have been each changing over the eons for independent reasons, yet the same side of the moon still always faces earth.....so some unknown force or answer must STILL be effecting the bodies.

I also find it odd that of all the articles and theories presented, each is willing to say "yes, we have the answer", but few are actually willing to openly admit that the experts don't really have a solid clue..
it's almost as if there's an agreement to keep this one kinda quiet so it won't embarrass the experts.

Here is one of the funniest answers you'll see....
this answer amounts essentially to
"it's that way because it's that way"

In other words, they answer the question why we can't see the other side of the moon by answering that it's because that side never faces us!!
http://lunarscience.arc.nasa.gov/kids/moon_face


Here is a paper written by a guy who reviews all the the theories that people have come up with...
some are ridiculous, and all cannot actually and adequately explain the phenomenon...
He discounts and "disproves" the tidal theory as well as others...

but the guy tries anyway to offer his own explanation...
http://www.wbabin.net/physics/tdm20.pdf


The guy comes to the conclusion that since the moon has a lot of iron, and the earth has a magnetic field, then it must be the earth's magnetic influence on the iron in the moon that causes the moon to always face the earth in he same manner.


BUT-- other sources say this theory is absolute poppycock, and here's why..!

We sit in the middle of the earth's magnetic influence...it is no stronger anywhere than right where you sit..
yet if you sprinkle some fine iron shavings onto a piece of paper....check and see if they line up or move about as a result of the earth's magnetic influences...
go ahead and maybe even give them a million years, or even spray some silicone on the paper to reduce friction...

Guess what, they will never line up or move a micron, as the earth's magnetic field is so relatively weak, that it cannot even budge the tiniest little piece of iron on earth....

The weakest magnet you can find or hold in your hand when waved near the shavings will cause them to move...but the earth's magnetic field has an far, far weaker effect on your shavings!!

So then this guy says that as weak as the earth's magnetic field is...it still had this massive influence on the moon, stopping it's rotation and commanding the orientation of the moon throughout all of eternity!!

Plus....throw this fact in...
The earth's magnetic field occasionally reverses itself totally!!
So then how come the moon still stays locked into the same orientation...
if you reverse a magnet near your iron shavings...trust me things will change!
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/earth-magnetic-04a.html

Well...then you see, that even the experts don't have an answer to this one.......
but I prefer to just believe that this is the way it was created. After all, if someone has the ability to create it all and set the rules, then I guess He can set it up any way He wants.
OK...your turn....let's hear your answers........


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Next question we might ponder is that if one of the strongest rules in all of the universe is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
(the entropy rule that things always get more random and never get MORE organized on their own in nature),
then one has to ask, how did all the space dust all get stuck together and finally come into being as massive bodies formed of dozens of elements and millions of compounds in mega-,assive suns and planets in precise orbits around each other?
Specifically, if all started as a giant cloud of dust in space, how do you get tiny particles of dust and individual molecules all moving a millions of miles per hour, to just suddenly stop moving and colliding and bouncing off each other, and just start sticking to each other and growing into massive bodies like giant stars?
Trust me, it isn't easy -- even the top scientists really don't have a clue, although they'll act like they know and come up with some pretty shaky theories...

Recall, these tiny particles of Hydrogen, helium, etc...are so darned near weightless/massless that even if placed dead still in space right next to each other, they have such little gravity that they would actually repel rather than stick to each other.
And if they are moving through space at any velocity at all, then nothing is going to get them to stick to each other - they's just zip right by each other or collide and bounce away.
No known theory can account for the origin of larger bodies in space.
BUT-- once you have the large bodies, then the big ones gradually get more gravity and might grow larger, but you have to completely jump PAST the hardest step to get to the easier steps...but heck - why not, after all science doesn't care about those details, does it??