![View from the Moon [credit: Wikipedia]](https://tallbloke.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/earth-moon.jpg)
View from the Moon
[credit: Wikipedia]
First there was a report saying:
‘Computer model shows moon’s core surrounded by liquid and it’s caused by Earth’s gravity’
Of course the words ‘Computer model shows’ will ring a few alarm bells with some talkshop readers. Yes, it’s a theory based on a model, and the output of ‘climate models’ has led to many controversies so we may well be suspicious already.
‘The team suggests the liquid layer, if it’s really there, is caused by friction due to Earth’s gravity.’
‘If it isn’t there’ is left for another day…
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-07-moon-core-liquid-earth-gravity.html
Now we read that:
‘Scientists have worked out the reasons for the distorted shape of our Moon.’
‘The gravitational tug of the Earth raised tides on the Moon that started to “flex and pull on that thin crust”, said Prof Garrick-Bethell.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28565730
Let’s give that a bit of flavour by mentioning a theory of Miles Mathis here. He proposes that charge pressure from the Earth over long timescales has affected the shape of the Moon, by flattening the Earth-facing side compared to the much rougher ‘dark side’.
‘Current schematics of the Moon clearly show a deformation or obliteration heaviest nearest the Earth. The nearside crust has been almost completely blasted away, with the heaviest blasting centered at the nearest point. The nearest part of the Moon IS being squashed the most, as we would expect given a charge field.’
http://milesmathis.com/phi.html
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Of course we don’t have to totally accept or reject any of these ideas, but it does show an area of science which is not settled and where there’s room for new ideas to emerge that may conflict with existing ones.
One way or another it seems the Moon still has things to tell us.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
So if there is a liquid layer surrounding a solid core- which strongly suggests a differentiated body
(http://www.windows2universe.org/glossary/differentiation.html), then there should be a magnetic field.
Did they model this too?
The full paper is paywalled. But magnetism does exist on the Moon:
‘On a single orbit track it is sometimes possible to see up to ten
or fifteen distinct magnetic field anomalies with strengths of a
few nanotesla up to ~50 nT, and with an extent in latitude
ranging from ~50 km down to our resolution limit of 5 km or
possibly even less.’
Click to access 1959.pdf
So the Moon’s magnetic field is about 600X less than the Earth’s.
Pretty weak if there is a significant liquid core.
Journalist: Prof Garrick-Bethel what did you find?
Prof Garrick-Bethel: we found data gaps.
Journalist: Prof Garrick-Bethel what did you do with the find?
Prof Garrick-Bethel: we did a lot of work to estimate the uncertainties in the analysis that result from those gaps.
…
Post-modern ‘science’ or what? who can say that …
The question they’re now having to ask (if the model is correct) is:
‘If the moon was created due to a large body striking Earth, why did it not cool down over the four and half billion years since then, to the extent that it would be too cold for a liquid layer to exist today?’
oldbrew says: July 31, 2014 at 10:39 pm
The question they’re now having to ask (if the model is correct) is:
‘If the moon was created due to a large body striking Earth, why did it not cool down over the four and half billion years since then, to the extent that it would be too cold for a liquid layer to exist today?’
Please define gas, liquid, solid, with almost no gravitational field?
@ Will J
See the ‘phys-org’ article (link above). One thing it does say:
‘As for why such a layer would exist, the team suggests that the tug of Earth’s gravity—tidal heating—is likely playing a role, causing friction between the core and material above it, resulting in the creation and maintenance of a liquid layer.’
Of general note is the certainty the researchers have that their interpretation is the correct one.
Same as in business: you and only you know right, all dissenters have nothing to contribute, must be ignored, until you retire or quit, when the new guy explains you were an idiot, he’s got it right and get onboard or shut up.
oldbrew says: August 1, 2014 at 9:26 am
@ Will J See the ‘phys-org’ article (link above). One thing it does say:
‘As for why such a layer would exist, the team suggests that the tug of Earth’s gravity—tidal heating—is likely playing a role, causing friction between the core and material above it, resulting in the creation and maintenance of a liquid layer.’
Please define gas, liquid, solid, with almost no gravitational field?
Your article never describes the distinction between phases.
Why call something in a computer model a liquid?
Will J:
Because it has a (theorised) viscosity?
Roger,
So does sand!
Related: ‘New research sets back date of moon’s dynamo 160 million years’ (2013)
‘Currently, the moon has no global magnetic field, but analysis of rocks brought back by Apollo astronauts showed that it did at one time. To create such a field, the moon would necessarily have had some churning in its interior—a dynamo.’
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-date-moon-dynamo-million-years.html
Another version of the main story, with more detail plus graphics:
http://scitechdaily.com/new-research-reveals-tidal-heating-deepest-part-lunar-mantle/