What is tidal locking between Moon and Earth? Does moon not rotate on its axis?
In: Physics
The moon used to spin relative to the Earth. However, the Earth exerts significant tidal forces on the moon. That is, since the Earth is very big and pretty close by, it pulls on the near side of the moon much harder than the far side.
As the moon tried to continue to spin, it was constantly slowed down by the Earth, effectively, tugging on one end of it. Eventually, all of the rotational motion of the moon relative to the Earth was lost and the same side of the moon always faces the Earth.
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