Particle 101: The Full Moon Effect

2 weeks ago

Since ancient times, humans person speculated whether nan afloat Moon has a definite powerfulness complete our minds.

It’s been blamed for mystery, mayhem and temper swings. But does subject agree?

THE MAKING OF A FULL MOON

Like Earth, the Moon doesn’t radiance pinch its ain light.

The eight lunar phases, including nan afloat Moon, are created from nan Sun’s reflection and repetition each 29.5 days.

When we spot a afloat Moon, it’s positioned other nan Sun, revealing its dayside.

MYTHIC TIDES

The Moon’s gravitational propulsion drives nan ebb and travel of tides.

Given nan quality assemblage is astir 80% water, could nan Moon impact america for illustration nan tides?

Caption: The 8 phases of nan moon
Credit: Penguin

Greek philosopher Aristotle and Roman historiographer Pliny nan Elder thought so.

They suggested that, because nan encephalon is our ‘moistest’ organ, it must beryllium influenced by nan Moon, evoking insanity and madness.

By nan Middle Ages, nan afloat Moon symbolised werewolves and humanity’s struggle betwixt civility and primal instincts.

But is location immoderate grounds to backmost up these claims?

CELESTIAL SLEEPERS

Studies from 2013 and 2021 show nan lunar rhythm does impact humans – conscionable not successful nan measurement we thought.

Participants had later slumber onsets and shorter slumber long connected afloat Moon nights, apt owed to brighter moonlight.

The 2013 study recovered that nan merchandise of melatonin, our slumber hormone, was delayed by 50 minutes.

This suggests we person an innate circalunar rhythm – our assemblage timepiece correlates to nan lunar cycle.

But erstwhile it comes to much melodramatic claims, for illustration nan afloat Moon affecting seizures and psychiatric events, a 2023 review found small reliable evidence.

MYTH BUSTED

Does Aristotle and Pliny’s mentation clasp up?

Not really.

Caption: A werewolf’s crimes (right) and his proceedings arsenic a quality (left)
Credit: Johann Jakob Wick (1580) Britannica

Astronomer George Abell pointed retired that a mosquito connected our limb has a stronger gravitational propulsion connected america than nan Moon does.

While nan Moon’s unit affects unfastened bodies of h2o for illustration nan ocean, it has nary effect connected a contained root of h2o specified arsenic our brain.

At each shape of nan lunar cycle, nan Moon’s propulsion remains nan same. It doesn’t alteration during a afloat Moon aliases waxing crescent.

This story has lasted for hundreds of years – each acknowledgment to confirmation bias.

We thin to announcement occurrences that support our pre-existing beliefs alternatively than ones that situation them.

Interestingly, nan connection ‘lunacy’ comes from nan Latin word ‘lunaticus’, meaning ‘of nan Moon’.

It reminds america that myths tin style our language, moreover erstwhile subject tells different story.

Republish

Republishing our content

We want our stories to beryllium shared and seen by arsenic galore group arsenic possible.

Therefore, unless it says otherwise, copyright connected nan stories connected Particle belongs to Scitech and they are published nether a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This allows you to republish our articles online aliases successful people for free. You conscionable request to in installments america and nexus to us, and you can’t edit our worldly aliases waste it separately.

Using nan ‘republish’ fastener connected our website is nan easiest measurement to meet our guidelines.

Guidelines

You cannot edit nan article.

When republishing, you person to in installments our authors, ideally successful nan byline. You person to in installments Particle pinch a nexus backmost to nan original publication connected Particle.

If you’re republishing online, you must usage our pageview counter, nexus to america and see links from our story. Our page position antagonistic is simply a mini pixel-ping (invisible to nan eye) that allows america to cognize erstwhile our contented is republished. It’s a information of our guidelines that you see our counter. If you usage nan ‘republish’ past you’ll seizure our page counter.

If you’re republishing successful print, please email america to fto america truthful we cognize astir it (we get very proud to spot our activity republished) and you must see nan Particle logo adjacent to nan credits. Download logo here.

If you wish to republish each our stories, please interaction america straight to talk this opportunity.

Images

Most of nan images utilized connected Particle are copyright of nan photographer who made them.

It is your work to corroborate that you’re licensed to republish images successful our articles.

Video

All Particle videos tin beryllium accessed done YouTube nether nan Standard YouTube Licence.

The Standard YouTube licence

This licence is ‘All Rights Reserved’, granting provisions for YouTube to show nan content, and YouTube’s visitors to watercourse nan content. This intends that nan contented whitethorn beryllium streamed from YouTube but specifically forbids downloading, adaptation, and redistribution, isolated from wherever different licensed. When uploading your contented to YouTube it will automatically usage nan Standard YouTube licence. You tin cheque this by clicking connected Advanced Settings and looking astatine nan dropdown container ‘License and authorities ownership’.
When a personification is uploading a video he has licence options that he tin take from. The first action is “standard YouTube License” which intends that you assistance nan broadcasting authorities to YouTube. This fundamentally intends that your video tin only beryllium accessed from YouTube for watching intent and cannot beryllium reproduced aliases distributed successful immoderate different shape without your consent.