The Moon. It's that thing that Shakespeare swore by, werewolves howl at, and that some people think we faked a landing on. In all seriousness, the Moon is a pretty important part of our lives. I'm not sure a lot of people really realize just how important the celestial body is to us. It protects us from a lot of horrible things.

Think of the Moon as our bodyguard. It takes the bullets for us; when asteroids and meteors are headed for Earth, many of them end up hitting the Moon instead. I'm sure everyone is thankful for that. The Moon is also what keeps the tides going and the tides are very important for the survival of many creatures, including the human race.

Now, imagine if the Moon disappeared tomorrow. What would happen? The tides would virtually stop. There would be no more protection from asteroids. Werewolves would have nothing to howl at! The Earth's tilt would be messed up. Climate would change far more rapidly. Wars for habitable land and resources would be crazy (because much of the settled world would be wiped out by massive tidal waves, hurricanes, volcanoes, and earthquakes)!

The Seasons Would Be Unpredictable

The Moon helps the planet keep its tilting rotation. If the Moon suddenly disappeared, this tilt would likely be thrown off-kilter. And it's not like we can truly predict where the tilt would go. But what is likely is that with little to stabilize the planet, it could end up being pulled a bit from Jupiter sometimes, and the Sun at other times, causing some interesting wobbles. The wobbling effect that could result would end the changes of the seasons. At least as we know it. Some weeks we might get nothing but rain, then we could have a dry season for months and months at a time, and then we could be buried in snow for a time. Basically, seasons would be unpredictable and so too would be the future weather and climate.

Places Would Quickly Become Uninhabitable

With no Moon in the sky anymore, the axial tilt of the Earth would change pretty quickly and this would cause a big change to a lot of things on our planet within a pretty short time. And this could end up making much more of the Earth unwelcoming for settling or agriculture. The changes of the land might take a couple of years to really be a huge concern, but it would quickly make much of the Earth more of a desert. And the ice caps would likely melt far more quickly, leading to a rise in water levels and eventually the cooling of the planet. So, once the warming had been completed, the melted ice caps would lead to the start of the next ice age basically. The ice age would take a long time to get to, but the changes to our planet's surface would be pretty obvious pretty quickly.

There Would Be Much Larger Hurricanes 

Without the Moon, the spinning of the planet would change. It used to be much faster, but the Moon has been slowing down the process by taking much of the Earth's energy for its own orbit. Without it, maybe the Earth would begin to speed up, but even if it didn't the sudden disappearance of the Earth's gravitational force would likely lead to some pretty intense weather changes. If you think this past hurricane season was bad, imagine that on a much larger scale! Coastal regions everywhere would be ravaged by massive hurricanes that would likely have to be called category "oh-my-god-what-the-f*ck-is-this-hurricane" kind of storms. Considering how badly Texas and Puerto Rico and other places have been damaged this past year, I wouldn't want to see that category of hurricane.

There Would Be A Lot More Volcanic Activity

That's right. If the Moon disappeared, it's likely that we would see a whole lot more volcanic activity. This might not happen right away, but it would probably happen within the next couple of years without the Moon. Why? Well, the Moon is a big part of how our planet keeps its tilt and keeps the speed it's spinning at. Now, if that gravitational pull from the Moon was suddenly taken away, then both the spin and the speed of the Earth would be affected and the core of the Earth would be given quite a jolt. This jolt would likely cause a whole bunch of geological disasters. Tectonic plates would shift and cause pretty awful earthquakes. And all of that underground activity would then cause a whole ton of volcanic activity. And that's definitely not good for the human race!

We Would Lose Our Base For Space Testing

I know there are a lot of stupid people out there who think that NASA faked the Moon-landing and that it was actually just a manufactured film made in Hollywood. But let's just assume that these people are daft and clearly wrong. If that's the case, and the Moon disappeared tomorrow, we would lose our one space playground that we can use to test things out in space. It's true that the space programs around the world have been folding pretty quickly, aside from Elon Musk's project to get to Mars, but the Moon is a key component. It only takes four days to get to. The next closest celestial body would take at least a month to get to and would be a much greater inconvenience when trying to learn new things about tech we've developed for space. But I guess at least no one would be able to put lasers up on the Moon to attack Earth.

There Would No Longer Be Tides

This might seem like something that doesn't matter all that much. It can be fun to watch the tides go out and come back in, but it can be a huge pain to fishermen and anyone who wants to go out on a boat ride while their boat is stuck in the mud, waiting for the tide to come back in. But in reality, it's very important that the tides shift like they do. They're responsible for a lot of important organisms being churned around in the ocean and being cast upon the land to help with a variety of ecosystems. In addition to that, the tides also help control the temperature of the oceans by constantly butting currents against each other, creating something called a tidal bulge which also helps with the churning of life as well as the stabilizing of the temperature.

Let's Say The Moon Blew Up...

So, here's the thing. If we just assume the Moon disappeared tomorrow...how did it? Let's say that it blew up. It's the only thing I could think of that makes sense. If it was swallowed by a black hole, we'd be just as f*cked anyway, so we'll have to assume something blew it apart. So, now we'd have some pretty big issues on our hands. Aside from no longer having our protection from meteors, we would also be getting bombarded by pieces of the Moon. Now, they wouldn't hit as hard as a meteor because the pieces are closer and traveling at a much slower speed. But moving 8km/sec is still pretty fast. Most of the small pieces would likely burn up in the atmosphere, but any chunks that didn't manage to break up would cause a huge amount of devastation on Earth.

Enormous Tidal Waves

You know that sh*tty movie Sharknado? Well, you might end up with a few sharks in your grocery store or your backyard if you live close to the coast. If the Moon disappeared, and the tides stopped as much as they would without it, then this interesting thing called the tidal budge drops all of the water that the Moon's gravitational pull had gathered in the middle of the oceans. When that water drops (several metres worth) it has to go somewhere, and I'm sure you can guess where it would go. It would create tidal waves of an incredible scale. I could not imagine many coastal communities would be able to escape the amount of wreckage these waves would cause, given how much force they would build up on their way to land.

The Earth's Rotation Would Speed Up

The chances of this being something to worry about right away might be slim. The Moon has actually been slowing down the Earth thanks to the energy it takes from the gravitational force of our planet. Days on Earth used to be as short as only 6hrs. Now, thanks to the Moon, we're sitting at 24hrs. If the Moon suddenly disappeared, that sudden regain of energy might cause the Earth to speed up again, but it would take a fairly long time to notice much of a difference. But our calendars would be off after only a few years. That would hardly matter though since the additional energy the Moon gave us for tides and core rotation would cause the planet to be far more messed up with climate change, and natural disasters. We wouldn't notice the changing calendar because of all the other issues we'd have. Good thing we have the Moon!

No More Bodyguard For Asteroids!

Without the Moon taking the impact from so many meteors and asteroids, the Earth is left very vulnerable to getting hit. You've probably seen a few photos of the Moon in your life. And when you've looked up at the night sky, you've probably seen a few craters on the surface of the thing, right? Well, if you can see craters on the Moon from down here on Earth, imagine how big those craters are. Each one of those craters were made by something that hit the Moon. Now, without the Moon to protect us, anything that would love that sort of crater will instead head straight for the Earth. Ever watch the movie Armageddon? Well, think about all of the small things that smoked the Earth in that movie. Then multiply it by however many craters there are on the Moon.

The Earth Would Tilt More

It shouldn't be any shock to anyone that the Earth rotates in a tilted formation. If this is a shock, then you really should have paid more attention in school. But either way, this tilt is pretty important to how our planet is organized. The Moon is a big component to how we stay in this rotation. Without it, the Earth chances almost doubling its tilt from 24.5 degrees to as much as 45 degrees. If this occurs, that means that the poles would not be covered in snow much longer. In a matter of years, the melt that could occur on the poles would totally throw off the planet. Forested areas of our planet would become deserts pretty quickly. And all of the ice melting on the north and south poles would lead to a huge amount of CO2 being released into the air. This would add to even worse and more rapidly changing climate. Basically...we'd be f*cked.

Farmers' Calendars Would Be Screwed!

Look, I know it may seem silly nowadays, but there are still many farmers who plant their crops by the phases of the Moon. They swear by it. That's why you see those outdated-looking farmer's almanacs in grocery stores and all over the place. They're still widely used. A whole business would disappear along with the Moon if it vanished. It's just a book business, but imagine the number of farmers who would not know how the hell to plant their crops anymore! Again, it might seem silly, but if there's any truth or good use to the way they plant by the Moon, then that means there would be a huge loss of agriculture very quickly. And considering all of the other horrors that would happen already with the Moon disappearing, I don't think anyone wants farmers to f*ck up their crops.

We'd Have A Really Clear Sky

I guess there are a couple of positive things that could happen if the Moon disappeared. I mean, not much positivity would come from the Moon vanishing, but there would be some fun superficial things that would happen. Those who like taking photos of the stars or just gazing up at night would really be able to see them without the light pollution from the Moon. That being said, with all of the freak weather changes and volcanic activity, there might not be a lot of time to manage to see the stars. Crazy storms would cloud over the skies, and ash clouds would also cover up a lot of the sky as well. So, you might have a few good weeks of stargazing before everything goes to sh*t. Like I said, there's not a lot of positivity from the Moon vanishing.

What Would Werewolves Howl At?

I'm sure this seems silly to a lot of you...and it is. But it's also a worthwhile question. Werewolves are one of the most popular creatures we humans have created for horror stories and creature lore throughout history. Its big deal is that it can only come out when the Moon is full. For those people who think they are actually werewolves (and trust me these people do exist), they would never be able to pretend that they have power anymore. That could be one of the few good things about the Moon disappearing. However, then you have to consider that people would write new lore about how werewolves managed to survive without the Moon, and then we'd have a whole new breed of crazy people. Just can't win here on Earth.

The Scavenger Wars

If you think it sucks that there's poverty in the world, just wait until there is no Moon looking down on us. We're going to have a whole lot more poverty. Thanks to earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves, and land that can no longer be used to grow crops or to settle communities, there are going to be a lot of people looking for food to eat. And I'm sure everyone knows what happens when one group needs resources that another group needs. War starts, of course. If wars in places like Iraq can happen thanks to things like oil, imagine what will happen when the entire world is searching for food and the ability to keep some amount of the technology we've created. We'd be in a true world war. And it would likely be a lot more brutal than any other we could recall.