Effects of freezing the moon in place?

A mad scientist decides to hold the moon hostage for one million dollars. He accomplishes this using a tractor beam of arbitrary power to trap the moon directly between the Earth and the Sun. The tractor beam is indestructible, will not drift in respect to the Solar System, etc.

A side effect of the tractor beam is that it warps space around it, causing the sun's light to lens around the frozen moon and reach the Earth just the same as it does right now (except there's a big ol' moon-shaped hole in the middle). This is intentional, as the mad scientist does not wish to end all life on Earth just yet.

But what effect does this have on the Earth? Presumably, we will no longer have tides, just as if the moon had been destroyed. Would there be any other effects? Would there, in fact, be any difference between this scenario and destroying the moon outright?

posted over 7 years ago

SPavel‭

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