What would happen to the earth if the moon was to disappear?
485410
There would still be some tides, but they would be much, much more calm, as the sun only has about 10% (if not less) of the effect on the waters that the moon does.  Other than that, probably not too much.  No more moonlight.
350565
Lunar: the earth gets between the sun and the moon and so it projects its shadow on the moon and it dissapears for a moment.\nSolar: The moo gets between the earth and the sun and you stop seeing the sun or a part of it during some moments, a complete solar eclipse you still see a ring of sun around the moon due to size difference. This doesn't happen on the lunar one as the projected shadow of the earth is much bigger than the moon (and the earth itself) so the moon can disappear for several minutes...
1150339
It'd depend more on what forced the moon out of it's typical orbit.  If something slowed the moon then the moon would gradually fall to earth be a relatively smooth landing  probably destroying a lot of disruption where it lands and over most of the planet not to mention throwing off the equal libream of our axis causing the to rotate and wobble in random patterns until balanced again.  If it was forced very quickly it could shatter the planet, the planet would most likely pull back together but you could kiss all life goodbye, except very resilient bacteria. Refer to Mimas a moon that orbits around Saturn, also referred to as the death star moon.  Hope I helped
282289
Even if the moon is really shifting away from earth every year, the total distance it shifts is nearly negligible (it is something infinitesimal). So at first glance even it seems worrying, we are not going to loose our moon in any near future.
535923
um...There wouldn't be anything, there would be no earth, the sun will increase in diameter causing the temp. on earth to rise VERY high, and people will finally build a powerful rocket to go to another planet that's similar to earth or mars...
576401
From what i understand the earth will eventually leave the earth system altogether in a few hundred thousand years, this process is not however do to tidal drag. That force is responsible for slowing the rotation of the earth (and other planets) What most people don't understand is that the moon acts as a stabilizer for the earth. they degree of axial tilt would vary wildly. the equator may wind up as the north pole and go back again. planets without moons all experience this extreme wobble effect.
679383
The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384,403 kilometers (238,857 miles); it is slowly moving away at about the same rate as your fingernails grow (about 4 cm a year).
523001
It would change the Earth's rotation and the Earth would tilt on its axis. What if all of us asked the same question at the same time that violated one of  Yahoo's community guidelines? Would the system completely break down?
366640
Well if you mean in terms of humans.  It would probably begin to recycle itself, Cars would rust, buildings would crumble from weathering, Animals would again flourish back home. and everything we thought about how to live would have to start from scratch if you believe in evolution.  But then again, earth has been destroyed about 30 times, from the results of asteroids, meteors, ice age and drought. but life did find a way right?... \nNow if you mean Earth completely empty of life all over animal or plant...  well then it would probably look like mars or a moon void of life and boring. with some clouds i guess.. Hope i answered correctly to your terms.
1028524
The force would be 1/4 what it is now (since gravity follows an inverse-square of distance law). As it is, moon's gravity has next to no effect on our weight on earth, so weight change would be unnoticable. The main effect would be on the tides. Rather than being the primary determinant of tide height, as it is now, the moon would be a secondary influence and the sun would be the primary. This would reduce tidal heights by (very roughly) one half.
78122
Yes the moon is getting further away from us each year at a rate of aboout 4 centimetres a year.  The moon helps stabilise the Earth's rotation and stops us "flopping around".  In 2 billion years the moon will have moved far enough away to loose its influence.  The effect of this on the Earth is not known.
798233
The moon orbits the earth.  It does not 'rise'.  Look in any good newspaper to see what time it is visible in your area.  This information can be found in the weather section.
1127537
The sun exploding\n\nHumans will reach a technological sophistication where they will be able to prevent the moon from leaving\n\nI don't know if they will be able to prevent the sun from exploding though
189537
If the earth wasnt tilted on its axis, we probably wouldnt have any gravity.  The tilt helps with the gravitational pull of everything and the moon itself.
274565
How would earth-without-a-moon differ from the earth we know? Some of the changes are obvious: nights would be darker, and tides would be lower (but not nonexistent; the sun's gravitational pull on the earth would still generate tides, though they would only be about a third as high as those created by the moon and the sun together). Other changes are more surprising: over time, the moon's tidal drag has acted as a brake on the earth's rotation; without it, Comins estimates, the earth would spin as much as three times faster, so that a year on earth-without-a-moon would consist of 1,095 eight-hour days. This faster spin would in turn result in near-constant hurricane-force east-to-west winds. The increased sloshing of the earth's molten core would generate a stronger magnetic field, deflecting more of the solar wind and possibly altering the chemistry of the earth's atmosphere.
162393
No one knows why the earth's center is hot. However, it is conjectured that tidal friction, heat from fission (radioactive decay), latent heat of formation and even the release of gravitational potential energy as heat, or possibly chemical processes might be reponsible for the heat, or at least some of it. \n\nOf course, eventually the radioactivity will decay away and that heat will cease. If the moon moves farther away as it is doing the tidal heating will lessen from the moon (but not the sun). The latent heat will dissipate. The chemical processes will probably eventually stop, and any gravitational potential energy release will end. \n\nSo it will probably cool down quite a bit eventually, except for tidal heating from the sun. This might take a long long time. \n\nHowever, it should be remembered that we do not really know what provides geothermal heating.
709262
Don't forget that large bodies like the earth itself, and the sun, are themselves held together with gravity.\n\nProbably the first thing that we would notice is that the earth would immediately lose its atmosphere as it went flying off the planet into space, as would the oceans.  Everything on the surface of the planet would go flying off due to the centrifugal force of its spinning ... buildings would just rip off their foundations like cheese shaking off a cheese-puff.  Without an atmosphere, it's doubtful you and I would live more than 15 or 30 seconds.\n\nThe earth  would immediately break apart in a big cloud of hot liquid iron (the core of the earth) and all the stuff on the surface.\n\nThe moon would also disolve into a huge cloud of hot rocks and sand.\n\nThe sun would explode rather violently, as the pressure from the burning of the inner core would suddenly have no force counteracting it.  The same would be happening to every star and planet in the universe.  And galaxies themselves would fly apart (as they too are held together with gravity).\n\nAnd yes, what is left of the earth would fly away from what is left of the sun ... although it would be quickly overtaken by the exploding sun.\n\nBut, of course, it ain't gonna happen.  I'll bet everything I own on it.  :-)  \n\nThink of this as a great way to get back in with your girlfriend ... "Hey baby, if gravity were suddenly to disappear, we need to be holdin' each other really tight!"  (You take it from there).