Psience Quest

The incontrovertible cosmological fine-tuning of the laws of physics gives scientists teleological nightmares, necessitating crazy ideas like the Multiverse. Now it turns out that fine-tuning extends in a big way to the formation of Earth's moon. Research is showing that the impact event that formed the moon must have been extremely finely tuned, with very low probability, in order to produce an early Earth which was conducive to life and especially advanced life.

Article:   

Quote:"...earth scientist Tim Elliott observes that the degree and kinds of complexity and fine-tuning required by lunar origin models appear to be increasing at an exponential rate. Among lunar origin researchers, he notes, "the sequence of conditions that currently seems necessary in these revised versions of lunar formation have led to philosophical disquiet." (Tim Elliott, "A Chip Off the Old Block," Nature 504 (Dec. 5, 2013), 90)."

The collision and the colliding body seem to have been finely adjusted so that they:

Quote:"1. Replaced the earth's thick, suffocating atmosphere with one containing the perfect air pressure for efficient lung performance, the ideal heat-trapping capability, and the just-right transparency for efficient photosynthesis.
2. Gave the new atmosphere the optimal chemical composition to foster advanced life.
3. Augmented the earth's mass and density enough to allow it to gravitationally retain a large, but not too large, quantity of water vapor for billions of years.
4. Raised the amount of iron in the earth's core close to the level needed to provide the earth with a strong, enduring magnetic field (the remainder came from a later collision event). This magnetic field shields life from deadly cosmic rays and solar x-rays.
5. Delivered to the earth's core and mantle quantities of iron and other critical elements in just-right amounts to produce sufficiently long-lasting, continent-building plate tectonics at just-right levels. Fine-tuned plate tectonics also performs a crucial role in compensating for the sun's increasing brightness.
6. Increased the iron content of the earth's crust, permitting a huge abundance of ocean life that, in turn, can support advanced life.
7. Salted the earth's interior with an abundance of long-lasting radioisotopes, the heat from which drives most of the earth's tectonic activity and volcanism.
8. Produced the moon, which gradually slowed the earth's rotation rate so that eventually advanced life could thrive on earth.
9. Left the moon with a just-right mass and distance relative to the earth to stabilize the tilt of the earth's rotation axis, protecting the planet from rapid and extreme climatic variations.
10. Created the moon with the just-right diameter and the just-right distance relative to the earth so that, at the narrow epoch in solar-system history when human life would be possible, humans on earth would witness perfect solar eclipses, which would help them make important discoveries about the solar system and universe.""

I remember watching, in the late 1990's, a BBC science documentary called Earth Story. It was about geology and nothing to do with fine tuning but while watching it the sense of exquisite fine tuning came through to me at least. The water cycle, the carbon cycle, the tectonic plates and how their movement influences our weather and, of course, the influence of the moon, as described in your post.

That series is available in full on Daily Motion - for a summary, I would recommend at least watching this episode ...