Increasing Moon Gravity...

[Dragonfly]

Increasing the gravity of a space object is a very popular theme in Science-Fiction. But what would happen, if you would increase the moon gravity to earth level (it's not important how or if)? The relationship between earth and moon and the effects on our climate are sensible.
What do you think could happen?

[Dragon Star]

Welcome to EAF Dragonfly.

As for your question, it's actually hard to say that they have the same gravity when ignoring how because to answer your question, we have to stay within the limits of science. The moon can't have the same gravity without having the same mass and size, or without having a different mass all together. If you were to say that both were equal in gravity the moon would have to be much more dense then earth (since it's smaller) The increase in density results in an increase in mass, hence increases the gravity.

But, strange things happen when the moon becomes more massive then earth. Just the way the moon orbits earth, earth would actually orbit the moon in a similar way. They would switch their orbital patterns. Eventually, after a long long time, earth would become Tidally Locked. A tidally locked body takes just as long to rotate around its own axis as it does to revolve around its partner.

As for the local effects on earth, it would be easy to say that if this was the case since the formation of Earth and Moon, then life may have never started in the first place. Earth needed the tidal bulging (pulling of earth's crust from the moons gravity (which causes the tides)) in order to produce oscillating currents known as tidal streams. These tides and tidal streams caused dramatic fluctuations in salinity around coastlines which could have driven the evolution of early DNA-like biomolecules. There would also be no seasons since the poles of earth. It's possible that if things didn't happen just as they did, things would be totally, totally different. Weather patterns would change, climates would be altered, exc...

But, as you know, this is all speculation. As we find more examples in space, we'll learn more about the implications here.

[Blue Fire]

Welcome to the forum, Dragonfly!!

I think Dragon Star's answer pretty much covers the general issues you raised. I might add though, that if the mass (therefore gravity) of the Moon increased significantly all of a sudden, there would likely be cataclysmic effects on the Earth - ruinous tides; extra stress on the Earth's crust possibly causing earthquakes, volcanoes, etc.; unpredictable and likely devastating weather pattern shifts (even super hurricanes); and a sudden shifting of Earth's position that would be felt by everyone on the planet. Sound like Armageddon?

[Dragonfly]

Sound like Armageddon?

Oh, just a little bit ....

I referred to Science Fiction because they work so easily with Shields and Gravity-Fields and so on. I read some of the threads on this boards and suddenly I asked myself, if you would be able to change moon gravity without physical matters like mass or velocity, what might happen?
It always sounds so easy in these stories, but even if you didn't mess up moons physics, it must have effects on earth (as you already said) and on solar system as well!

By the way: Thanks for the welcome!

[Dragon Star]

Well said Blue Fire. I was more banking off of it being something that took place long ago, so that was a valid explanation.

@Dragonfly - However you must remember that mass is the origin of gravity through the warping of space/time. It simply can't be explained by science without changing the mass.

So you clear on everything? No questions or clarifications about anything said?