[Steely Tom]

As Arthur C. Clarke said in 2001, "Nature always keeps her books straight."

This tidal generator takes energy from the moon's orbital angular momentum; the energy thus generated will cause the moon to slowly lose "altitude" and spiral down to an inevitable collision with the Earth.

Of course, the moon is already spiraling downward because Earth's tides are not "lossless." Tidal generators will not cause a catastrope that wouldn't otherwise have occurred; they'll just hasten the day of its arrival.

It would be fun for someone who had the time and knowledge to calculate how much sooner the earth-moon encounter will take place as a result of tidal generators (isn't there one in the Bay of Fundy as well), and then run breathlessly to the press with the story: Tidal Generation Shaves 18,000,000 years off the Future of Mankind!

Or some such.

(steely)

[Poohbah]

Just stick a big ol' rocket motor on the trailing side of the moon and fire that puppy up!

[freeeee]

The moon is slowly moving away from the Earth, not towards it.

[Arthur McGowan]

Rather than 18,000,000 years, the figure, if all of mankind's energy needs were supplied by tidal generation stations, would probably be something like 0.003682 seconds.

[KellyAdmirer]

This has to affect the snail darters somehow....

[bedolido]

Of course, the moon is already spiraling downward because Earth's tides are not "lossless." Tidal generators will not cause a catastrope that wouldn't otherwise have occurred; they'll just hasten the day of its arrival.

Great... now I gotta worry about moon-crashing into earth insurance.

[HEY4QDEMS]

Of course, the moon is already spiraling downward because Earth's tides are not "lossless." Tidal generators will not cause a catastrope that wouldn't otherwise have occurred; they'll just hasten the day of its arrival.

I read in a science article that the moon on average moves about 1 to 1.5 inches further away from it's mother Earth every year.
Not that it will be any less devastating as it is the moon's gravity that keeps the Earth in gyroscopic rotation.
Without the moon, the Earth would orbit the sun in a chaotic tumble.

[Starrgaizr]

Orbital mechanics isn't my thing, but won't the effect be to lock the moon into a geosyncronous orbit? Unless it is too big to remain stable that close to earth. I think we need to tax the Norwegians for accelerating the impending global catastrophe.

[dangus]

Huh?

How does the moon "know" that we're using that energy? The "stolen" energy will not come from the moon; it'll come from weather patterns. The probable result will be that Norway will be in a year-round state of cold, clammy, damp-but-not-actually-raining weather.

Also known as "English."

[ArGee]

This tidal generator takes energy from the moon's orbital angular momentum; the energy thus generated will cause the moon to slowly lose "altitude" and spiral down to an inevitable collision with the Earth.

Since the total mass of the earth is not being changed, are you positing that the back-and-forth motion of the seas helps sustain the moon's orbit? Additionally, are you suggesting that the amount of resistance provided by these seamills would amount to any significant percentage of the amount of energy required to set the seas in motion?

I'm honestly curious.

Shalom.