Martha Gentry, Age 11, Of Elkton, Va., for her question:

What would happen if the earth had no moon?

We would miss the beauty and the welcome light of our golden moon. But loss of the tides caused by the moon would be far more upsetting. Twice each day, the tides wash debris from the beaches. Many small sea dwellers can live in tidal pools and nowhere else. The pounding waves would stop forming new sand, smoothing pebbles and carving new shapes in the shorelines.

Without the moon to stir up the tides, the waters of the wide ocean would be calmer and in some places they could become stagnant. Fish and other sea dwellers soon perish in stagnant water, and no one can guess how many of these creatures would perish.