Shaniah Hall

Physics 1040(1St Essay)

Mr. Rogers
2 December 2015
The Boundaries of the Moon
When studying science you are able to decide what is true, what is just a theory,
the things we can actually observe, and how all of these elements work together. One of
the subjects that we know a great deal about is the Moon, but even though we know a
great deal about the moon there will be new things well discover in the future. However,
these are the boundaries of what we know today.
The sun was created in our solar system and the planets followed. We know you
cant have a moon unless it orbits around a planet. The planets began to form from the
dust clouds and gasses orbiting the young sun. Since the early galaxy was very violent,
there were objects that were created, but never made it to the planetary stage. These
objects were things like rocks, asteroids, as well as, other planets in their beginning
stages. The Moon was formed shortly after Earth was completely created.
Scientists believe the Moon was created by the Giant Impact that occurred 4.5
billion years ago. There were so many objects flying around in space that something was
bound to collide with Earth. One of these objects, know as Theia, which was about the
size of mars, collided with Earth. When Theia hit our Earth, it spewed off vaporized
pieces of our crust, leaving the core whole, and flung it into space. Because of the
gravitational pull from the Sun and Earth, the pieces were forced together. As a result of

this collision and the gravitational pull of the Earth and Sun on it, our Moon is the biggest
in our solar system when it is compared to the size of its host planet.
Due to this collision and the hot gases that were traveling through the atmosphere,
it makes sense that the Moon is made up of lighter elements, where Earth is made up of
more dense materials. Because of the impacts aftermath, the materials of the Moon would
be lighter after the collision and that is also why elements, like water, evaporate so easily
is. This is also why there is absolutely no water on the Moon. The pieces that were
broken off of Earths crust formed around what was left of Theias core as it went into
orbit around Earths ecliptic plane, which is the path of the sun as it moves through the
sky and where it lies today.
Scientists have been able to analyze rock samples from the Moon, which further
supports this theory. While most scientists think the Moon should be 70 percent Theia,
planets and their moons have unique chemical makeups. However, the Moon and Earth
have very similar compositions and isotopes more than the models of Theia have.
There will always be new things to learn about the Moon and its composition.
There are several theories that explain how the Moon was created but the Giant Impact
theory is the most realistic. There are some things we dont know about the Moon and it
may take us years or even centuries to figure out more, but these are the things we know
about the Moon now and how it came to be.