Imagine you're holding a ball on a string and spinning around. If you spin fast enough, the ball will always face you, it's like it's locked in place. That’s what happens with the moon and Earth. The moon spins as it goes around Earth, but it does so at just the right speed that one side always faces us.
Examples
- A spinning top moves around a table at just the right speed so that it always shows the same side to you.
- A dancer spins slowly enough for their front side to be visible to an audience as they circle around them.
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See also
- Why Does the Moon Always Face Us?
- What If Earth Suddenly Stopped Spinning?
- What If We Lost the Moon?
- Why Is The Moon Moving Away From Earth?
- What causes the tidal effect?