If Earth's Moon Were Ganymede-Like, Part I: Rotation

I know that in the past I posted questions on if specific bodies larger than the moon--Mars in one and Titan in another--but this series deals with questions regarding Earth's effects by a natural satellite like Ganymede in two ways--a diameter of 3,274 miles and orbiting its parent from a distance of about 665,000 miles. The major fundamental difference is that this moon has a five-mile deep mantle separating its all-iron core from its rocky crust.

In Episode 1, we look at how the moon creates Earth's rotation. Before the Theia impact event, Earth spins at a daily rate of six hours. After Theia, the moon started life orbiting Earth from a distance of 15,000 miles and leaving orbit at a speed of 1.6 inches--four centimeters--per year. As a result, a day has been getting longer by 2.3 milliseconds since the eighth century before the Common Era. Whereas sea scorpions and trilobites swarmed the oceans under a 21-hour day, Stegosaurus may have been munching on cycads under a 23-hour day. Now that this 2,159-mile-wide body of rock currently orbits Earth at a distance of 238,900 miles, we walk and run under a day lasting 24 hours.

Can an alternate Earth still have a 24-hour day with the moon described in the first paragraph above? And how will its larger size affect the rate of disintegration?

posted about 6 years ago

JohnWDailey‭

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