Asked by severia

Look at the image. Which statement explains what would most likely happen if the moon were closer to Earth?

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
The Moon’s gravitational pull on Earth would be stronger if it were closer, so the most likely effect is much stronger tidal effects — higher high tides and lower low tides (more extreme coastal flooding). The Moon would also appear larger in the sky and orbit faster (shorter month).

(Reason: gravitational force scales as 1/r^2, and tidal forces depend on the gradient of gravity and scale even faster with distance, so small decreases in r give noticeably larger tides.)