Earth's Moon: Why One Side Always Faces Us

Only one side of the Moon ever faces us because Earth's force of gravity on it is not uniform. This is related to our ocean tides and a lengthening of days on Earth. Duration: 7:58.

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[clitcommander]

I love how you explained this to me like I’m dumb because that sir I am, good science too you

[andres]

I'm 50 years old. This is the first time in my life I have understand why we don't see the far side of the moon

[shanzaykhan]

BEST EXPLANATION. I love how you added the yellow line. It made everything so easy

[miss_B_]

I was not expecting, after so many years, to randomnly click on this video, after SO MANY and this be the one who made me understand. I am forever grateful

[stephenhunter]

wow, I learned more in 8 minutes on this topic than in 8 days reading about this in school. Darn public school education.

[looowlayrs]

Thank you, this made so much sense. I only wanted to find a visual aid for the moon facing one side of the planet and got an explanation for gravitational force, tidal change, and moon phase changes.

[litingwakelesia]

who is this narrator??
i love this guy.

[Itiswhatitis]

🙌 I watched over 10 videos and even tried a practical demonstration with my cat but thankfully I stumbled across this video. This has been the best explanation. 👏👏👏

[luvtolive]

this was the best animation for tidally locked astronomical bodies

[jonm]

I just couldn't picture this at allll! It was getting me mad😠. I thought..its impossible for us not to see the back of the moon if it spins! I knew I needed a multimedia type diagram and thought I'd still be confused but this was perfect! Exactly what I needed to see because I have to visualize everything to truly understand it. Great video! Thank You!

[atmospheresports]

I watched tons of youtube videos on this topic but still didn't understand until i got to find this video, , In just 2 minutes i understood 100%

[danielasare]

C'mon guys this dude deserves a Nobel price for excellent teaching

[TheEgg]

This is THE best explanation. If only all videos could be easy to understand like this. Most people do a terrible job explaining things.

[breadtoast]

Easy explanation for people with a school project and don’t have time for the video:

This is called “synchronous rotation of the moon”. The side we see is the “near side”, while the one we don’t see is called the “far side”. Part of the reason we only see the near side is because of the rotation of the moon while it orbits the Earth.
Why does it rotate like this? Because of the Earth’s gravitational pull and how large the moon is, the pull is stronger on the near side and the far side. This odd gravitational pull mechanism causes the near side to be “pulled” towards the Earth, causing it to face us.

Did that help? Just thought I’d try to help the confused people in the comments.

[philbarrett]

I've watched loads of explanations on this and still had questions. It finally 'clicked' within the first 2 minutes of your explanation.
THANK YOU so much 💓

[dinil]

Man why didn't you become my school teacher? 😅

[jagannathgaidhani]

just first 3 minutes was enough, animation can do wonders thank you so much

[lucasbailey-thomas]

This is what I needed! The yellow line! Thanks!

[stuarthayward]

Best explanation ever, fantastic. I finally get why the moon being "tidally locked" around the earth entails a time taken to complete one revolution (27 days) and the time taken to orbit around the earth (27.322 days) being near equivalent- and thus 360 degree rotation time is (99%) synchronised with the time it takes to complete one 360 degree orbit. So observers see 99% the same face (give or take the viewing of 8 degrees of the far side) Thank-you.

[-Mike]

This guy deserves my tuition more than my university.