• Question: this is about about the happens in japan yesterday in the newspaper it said that the moon comes towards the earth every so often and they said that the moon is to blame because last time the moon came towads the earth bad things happen all i wont to know is if this is true and if so what will happen

    Asked by lburke20 to Jamie, Jodie, Kat, Mark, Niamh on 16 Mar 2011 in Categories: . This question was also asked by annabelledaisy.
    • Photo: Jodie Dunnett

      Jodie Dunnett answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      I know that this is one theory but I don’t think it has been proven! The moon causes the tides and I think that is where the link has been made but the tsunami wasn’t just a super wave caused by the moon, it was created when the sea bed shifted and a large amount of water was displaced.

    • Photo: Jamie Pringle

      Jamie Pringle answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      Hello lburke20,

      The first thing I would say is dont believe everything your read in the media, someone will have written it but who knows if they are the expert or not? And experts often disagree! So make up your own mind once you’ve read around the subject a bit.

      In answer to your question, there is still no ‘magic’ method to determine when and where an earthquake might happen. Usually they occur at plate margins (as the earth is made up of separate plates like a jigsaw puzzle – earthquakes happen more often at the edges of the jigsaws, rather than in the middle – we in the UK live in the middle of a jigsaw piece for example).

      As for your question, there is some evidence to sugest that when the moon and sun are aligned in a line with the earth, then more earthquakes tend to happen as the extra gravity pull may help to overcome rock friction and get the plates to move, causing the earthquake to happen.

      As I understand it anyway, check out this link for further information: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/highlights/earthquakes/honshuMarch2011.html

    • Photo: Mark Hill

      Mark Hill answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      Hi lburke20,

      I am not an astrophysicist, but there is no doubt that the gravitational pull of the Earth and the Moon do significantly affect what happens down here. Think of the tides; spring tides and neap tides, the extent of which are directly affected by the position of the Moon to where we are on Earth. I am not sure how it may affect seismic movement, perhaps Jamie’s expertise could help further, but I am also not convinced that we know all there is to know about how the Moon affects our planet. Jamie, over to you!

    • Photo: Niamh Nic Daeid

      Niamh Nic Daeid answered on 16 Mar 2011:

      Hi Iburke20

      I think Jamie has answered your question very well. the moon certainly has an effect on the tides but it’s highly unlikely to cause something like an earthquake, that’s as a result of a geological phenomena as Jamie explained…. dont believe everything you read in the papers 🙂

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