Question Moon Physics

[Ken V]

Does the Moon have rotational energy?

Or does the moon merely orbit around the earth and 'rotate' once per orbit as a result of the orbital path?

 

[Catastrophe]

Maybe not all agree with this:

The Moon's Rotation (Follow-up) | Tesla Universe
https://teslauniverse.com › nikola-tesla › articles › moo...

The Moon's Rotation (Follow-up) ... In this article Dr. Tesla proves conclusively by theory and experiment that all the kinetic energy of a rotating mass is purely ...


Here is another point of view:

approximately 27 days

The moon orbits the Earth once every 27.322 days. It also takes approximately 27 days for the moon to rotate once on its axis.17 Jun 2021
Does the moon rotate? | Space


Cat

 

[Patrick fenex]

Does the Moon have rotational energy?

Or does the moon merely orbit around the earth and 'rotate' once per orbit as a result of the orbital path?

It must have when it was forming, current computer models suggest but there are actually two moons in orbit around the Earth after the collision with Thea. Both moons were still semi Molten, they claimed the smaller Moon caught up to the larger one and made an impact on it. But if they were both semi Molten it was probably more of a splat. It probably has negligible rotational energy now. But, in the far distant future if the earth-moon system is not swallowed up by the Sun, then I suppose the moon , once it gets to a certain distance and, is no longer tidally locked, it should acquire rotational energy. However, even if the earth-moon system does not get swallowed up by the Sun, once the Sun sheds its outer layers to become a white dwarf all that material will probably cause orbital drag on the moon and the earth so who knows.