Author Question: Explain the three different hypotheses for the origin of the Moon and how evidence from the Apollo ... (Read 83 times)

cdr_15 · **on:** Jul 27, 2018

Explain the three different hypotheses for the origin of the Moon and how evidence from the Apollo lunar rocks persuaded scientists to develop a new hypothesis.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

A medium-mass star becomes a red giant as the result of _______________ fusion in a shell.

Fill in the blank(s) with correct word

leahm14 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 27, 2018

Answer to Question 1

The fission hypothesis proposed that the Moon broke from a rapidly spinning young Earth. The condensation hypothesis suggested that Earth and the Moon condensed together from the same cloud of matter in the solar nebula. The capture hypothesis suggested that the Moon formed elsewhere in the solar nebula and was later captured by Earth. Each of these three hypotheses failed to compare with evidence. After Moon rocks were returned to Earth and examined did a new hypothesis form.

The large-impact hypothesis proposes that the Moon formed when a very large planetesimal, estimated to have been at least as massive as Mars (1/10 the mass of Earth), smashed into the proto-Earth. Model calculations indicate that this collision would have ejected a disk of debris into orbit around Earth that would have quickly formed the Moon

Answer to Question 2

hydrogen