Two students are having a discussion about the Moon. The first student claims that we always see only one side of the Moon and that the other side is the "dark side." This student also further asserts that the dark side of the Moon is always dark. The second student disagrees with the first and claims that since the Moon is rotating, we see both sides of the Moon. Which student do you agree with and why? Why is the other student wrong?

Question

Physics

Julia Leonard

16 December, 05:51

Two students are having a discussion about the Moon. The first student claims that we always see only one side of the Moon and that the other side is the "dark side." This student also further asserts that the dark side of the Moon is always dark. The second student disagrees with the first and claims that since the Moon is rotating, we see both sides of the Moon. Which student do you agree with and why? Why is the other student wrong?

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Answers (1)

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Clark Vazquez · Answer 1

We should only agree with the first statement of the first student but not with the second part of his statement. While as the statement of the other student is completely wrong.

Explanation:

The earth and the moon are locked in a process known as tidal locking. Tidal locking occurs when any object which revolves around other object takes the same amount of time to rotate around it's own axis as it takes to revolve around the planet.

This is exactly the case with moon and the earth system, the moon is tidally locked with earth thus we cannot see the other side of the moon but this side is not dark as claimed by the first student but this side of the moon is also illuminated by the sunlight as the face of moon that we are able to see.

The second student is wrong as we cannot see the other side of moon from earth.