As far as I understand, the Moon and the Earth are tidally locked and there is a continual decrease in the energy of the earth-moon system (why is this btw?). Apparently this results in the moon moving progressively further away from the earth. this is counter intuitive to my mind, as i thought a loss in energy and angular momentum would result in the two bodies coming closer together?

The moon is tidally locked (or very nearly so) to the earth, and the earth is in the process of locking to the moon. So the earth is transferring energy and angular momentum to the moon. The system is losing neither energy nor angular momentum (to first-order, at least)

As far as I understand, the Moon and the Earth are tidally locked and there is a continual decrease in the energy of the earth-moon system (why is this btw?). Apparently this results in the moon moving progressively further away from the earth. this is counter intuitive to my mind, as i thought a loss in energy and angular momentum would result in the two bodies coming closer together?

 

I've heard that the 'angular momentum' of the system is conserved, with terra's loss in 'rotational' a.m. being translated into an increase in lunar 'orbital' a.m. If this is true I find it very strange that a.m. can switch between rotational and orbital forms.

 

aguy2

This site answers your question perfectly:

 

http://www.digipro.com/Trials/moon.html