Earth and Moon Comparisons
Misconceptions and Educational Research
Common misconceptions include:
- The Moon goes around the Earth in a single day
- The Moon is fairly close to the Earth--a couple of Earth-diameters away .
- The Moon makes its own light (the same way the Sun does).
- The Moon does not rotate.
- The same half of the Moon is in darkness all the time.
- The Moon has no gravity; things float “up” when dropped on the Moon.
- The Moon is only visible at night.
- The Moon has clouds or an atmosphere.
- The dark regions on the Moon are craters, rather than basins filled in with lava.
