The Moon Is Getting Farther from Earth

question 17

Multiple Choice

The Moon is getting farther from Earth. Will this continue forever?

• A) Yes. The Moon will always drift away from Earth.
• B) No. When Earth's rotation slows to zero (because of tidal friction), the recession will end.
• C) No. When Earth's rotation slows to match the motion of the Moon (synchronous rotation), the recession will end.
• D) No. Earth's rotation will slow to a stop and then reverse direction. At that point the Moon will begin to move closer to Earth again.

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Definitions:

Coefficient of Determination

A statistic that indicates the proportion of the variance in the dependent variable predictable from the independent variable(s).

Correlation

A quantitative measure that indicates the extent to which two or more variables fluctuate together.

Correlation Coefficient

A numerical measure that quantifies the degree to which two variables are related, ranging from -1 (perfect negative correlation) to +1 (perfect positive correlation).

One-tailed Hypothesis

A hypothesis test that considers either a decrease or an increase in a specific direction, focusing on one end of the probability distribution.