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I understand that scientists believe the earth and the moon were spinning at the same speed as each other at the time they experienced acceleration (were formed). I also know that the reason given for why the moon no longer spins is that the earths gravitational attraction for the moon stole the energy after 3.5 billion years.

So why is the earth still spinning?

Given that the sun's attraction for the earth is 100 times stronger than the earths attraction for the moon.

Qmechanic
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Strombringer
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1 Answers1

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Tidal forces rely on the difference in gravitational force between the different parts of the Earth and Moon due to the different distances

The Sun is so much further away that the differential force on the different parts of the Earth is much smaller, the system is much closer to two point masses and so (almost) no tidal torque

Martin Beckett
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