Dear Friar Broccoli:

"Friar Broccoli" wrote in message
ps.com...
Hi;

Dumb question #1:

It is my understanding that about 4 billion years ago the
moon was much closer to the earth than today (correct ?).
and as a result of bumping into dust/asteroids etc. it has
gradually lost energy and therefore moved AWAY from the
earth.

This "moving away" stuff *requires* energy/momentum... not the
loss of it.

My intuition tells me that as the moon looses
energy/momentum it should be less able to resist earth's
gravity, and therefore move NEARER to the earth. Why is my
intuition wrong?

It isn't. The recession of the Moon is largely driven by the
Earth's tides. Angular momentum is transferred from the Earth to
teh Earth-Moon system, in much the same way a miner panning for
gold can radially accelerate water in his pan. By slightly
shifting the center of mass.

Dumb question #2:

I live in Quebec City Canada, which is somewhere around the
47th parallel. Since that is far north of the Tropic of
Cancer (the most northerly height of the sun in late June) I
had always just assumed that the sun would ALWAYS be south
of east in the morning, and south of west in the evening.

Recently I noticed that that does not appear to be the case.
In late June, if I draw a line pointing to the sun first
thing in the morning, and another just before the sun goes
down, the interior angle is a lot less than 180 degrees. It
appears that this angle is about 150 degrees on the NORTH
side of my house. This makes no sense to me and is
beginning to drive me insane. I assume I am seeing the sun
north of east/west in the morning/evening, but why?

Nearer the geographic North pole, the Sun never sets in the
summer. Your assumption of "less than 180 degrees" is incorrect.
Be OK for a flat-earther, though. ;)

David A. Smith