blown up

[Immi666]

if the planet exploded like in hitchhikers guide to the galaxy (the movie - looked soo cool) what would happen to the moon?

[bernardo]

Some of the debris would land on, and coalesce around the Moon, but the Moon is only about one-eightieth of the mass of the Earth (and it is 238,000 miles away) so it would not be massive enough to attract very much. Most of the mass of the debris of the Earth would eventually fall into the Sun or re-group in a new lump. It is likely that the Vogons would have exploded the Moon as well. If the explosion was powerful enough, the whole thing would have been vapourised and there would not be much left apart from a cloud.

[loudickson71]

You've thought about this a lot, eh bernardo?

[bernardo]

Of course I have. I am so immensely clever that I have thought a lot about a lot of things. My brain is bigger than Deep Thought's was.

[loudickson71]

If the explosion were big enough, would it blow apart some frozen toothpaste?

[qapmoc]

It is pretty obvious that the moon is so close to the earth that it would cause intersteller ''fender bender's'' for the stuff travelling on the new expressway if it was left in place, the Vogons would have surely blasted it just to be sure and also probably because they just felt like blasting it.

If they left it in place as it is lighter than the earth it would change orbit and move closer to the sun (I think, i'll soon find out if I am wrong) until it found a new stable position.