Tag: moon and it's phases

Questions Related to moon and it's phases

At what phase are the earth, moon and sun are in approximate alignment?

  1. Full Moon

  2. New Moon

  3. Waning Crescent

  4. Waxing Crescent


Correct Option: A,B
Explanation:

The moon is visible on earth because the light from the sun falls on it, gets reflected from it and enters the eyes of the people who are watching it on earth.  The moon appears crescent, half, full, not at all, etc, depending on its position with respect to the sun and the earth.

The light falling on any part of the moon gets reflected. However the light reflected only from some part of the moon reaches the earth. Only that part is visible to the people on the earth.
On the new moon day, the moon is on the same side of the earth as that of the sun with respect to earth. No light from the moon reaches the earth and it becomes invisible. Its apparent colour is black, i.e. same of that as that of the night sky.
On the full moon day, the moon is on the opposite side of the earth as that of the sun with respect to earth. The light reflected from the entire moon reaches the earth and it appears like a glowing circular disc.

Thus, on new moon day and a full moon day, earth, sun and moon are almost in one line.

For practical understanding, you can perform the experiment given below
Take a torch, switch it on and place it on a table.
Stand in front of the source of light of the torch.
Take a small ball and hold it at a height same as that of the torch and facing the torch.
You will notice that the ball appears dark.
Now if you change the position of the ball, keeping the height same, you will notice that only some part of the ball appears illuminated.
If you place it diametrically opposite to the torch, but at height slightly higher than your head, the entire ball gets illuminated.
You can also notice that in the positions where the ball appears completely bright and in that when completely dark, the torch, your eyes and the ball are in one line.
The phases of the moon are due to situations similar to this experiment. 

Miriam notices when she goes to the beach that sometimes the water rises as high as the pier. At other times of the day, the water barely covers the pillars under the pier. These differences in water level are primarily due to the gravitational influence of which of the following?

  1. The Sun

  2. The Moon

  3. Asteroids

  4. Comets


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The different levels of the water of a sea are known as tides. Higher level is known as high tide and lower as low.

Tides are due to the gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun. The tide is high when the moon or the sun or both are on the side of the sea and vice versa.
The effect of tides due to the moon is much greater than that of the sun, because the moon is much closer to the earth.
The differences in water level are primarily due to the gravitational influence of the moon and secondarily due to that of the sun.