Which Moon formation model suggests that the Moon formed elsewhere in the solar system and was captured by Earth's gravity?

Which Moon formation model suggests that the Moon formed elsewhere in the solar system and was captured by Earth's gravity?

• A. The Fission model
• B. The Capture model
• C. The Double-Impact model
• D. The Giant-Impact model

Answer: (B)

The main idea being tested is where the Moon is thought to have come from. The description that the Moon formed somewhere else in the solar system and was pulled into Earth’s gravity is exactly what the capture model proposes. In this view, a passing body from outside Earth’s immediate neighborhood becomes bound to Earth after losing enough energy—through mechanisms like interactions with a primitive atmosphere, tidal forces, or complex gravitational interactions—to orbit as the Moon. The other models describe Moon formation as occurring in Earth’s vicinity—either spinning off from a rapidly rotating Earth, forming from debris after a giant impact, or from debris after two impacts—so they do not describe an external origin followed by capture.

The main idea being tested is where the Moon is thought to have come from. The description that the Moon formed somewhere else in the solar system and was pulled into Earth’s gravity is exactly what the capture model proposes. In this view, a passing body from outside Earth’s immediate neighborhood becomes bound to Earth after losing enough energy—through mechanisms like interactions with a primitive atmosphere, tidal forces, or complex gravitational interactions—to orbit as the Moon. The other models describe Moon formation as occurring in Earth’s vicinity—either spinning off from a rapidly rotating Earth, forming from debris after a giant impact, or from debris after two impacts—so they do not describe an external origin followed by capture.