Can you use hand tools on the moon?

[Limebat]

TL;DR Summary

Could you use a shovel the same way on Earth?

No, this isn't a homework question. I'm genuinely curious;

If I were to magically teleport and happenstance with a shovel and survive the harsh climate, could I use said shovel? Maybe hand drills? I would assume the shovel would be a class one lever, and thus the moon's lower gravity would reduce the load on this "lever" (shovel), so the force exerted on the effort arm would be much smaller. Yet, the load arm (the one with dirt pile) would also decrease, as the weight of lunar regolith would decrease as well in reduced gravity. My guess is that the shoveling rate would remain the same. Well, ignoring the fact you'd have to actually get the shovel down into the dirt in the first place.

However, I'd like to hear from you guys as well. Would you be able to use a shovel the same way as on Earth? This assumes everything and anything to stop the shovel, i.e. the abrasive nature of lunar dust on equipment.

 

[DrStupid]

Shovels have been used during the Apollo missions. Here is an image from the training on Earth:

(Does somebody have images or even videos from the Moon?)

It seems the major problem is not the tool but the space suit.

 

[Drakkith]

I don't see any reason why you couldn't use most hand tools equally as well on the Moon as on Earth, assuming you had a lightweight and flexible space suit. Perhaps the only exception I can think of immediately might be tools that have metal on metal contact, such as in drills or hinges, as I've read that they can cold-weld themselves together as the oxide layer is rubbed off and no oxygen is present to create it again.

 

[vanhees71]

I also guess, it's hard to get used to the lower gravity on the moon. We are used to gravity on Earth (with $g \simeq 9.81 \text{m}/\text{s}^2$). On the Moon it's only $0.17 g$. So I guess it would take some time to get used to this much lower weight of things on the moon to handle them with the same routine as on Earth.

 

[DrStupid]

I don't see any reason why you couldn't use most hand tools equally as well on the Moon as on Earth, assuming you had a lightweight and flexible space suit.

There could be problems where weight matters. @Limebat already mentioned that you need to get the shovel down into the dirt. That is harder with reduced weight. You would have a similar problem with a powered drill. Reduced weight also means reduced friction. That might end up with you rotating around the drill.

The reduced gravity could be compensated by the additional mass of the life support. But that comes with other problems (e.g. more inertia and a changed center of mass). Tools would need to be adapted to lower gravity and as @vanhees71 mentioned, it takes some practice to use them efficiently. But I agree that there is no general problem that would prevent us from using normal tools on the Moon.

 

[Baluncore]

Your digging style would be quite different.
Since g is less you could pick up a greater mass of material; F = m·g; but the force needed to accelerate it horizontally to the dump site; F = m·a; would remain the same as on Earth, or in space.

 

[bigfooted]

Not sure about shovels, but similar tools were used for the rock collecting, and there are images from this:

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/samples/apollo/tools/

 

[Ibix]

Your digging style would be quite different.

It occurs to me that under some circumstance you might want to hold the shovel as close to the blade as possible. You have the strength to lift far more than your own mass, but the principle of moments says you'll fall over if you try. Simplistically, it seems like the shorter the lever arm of the shovel the more mass you can lift.

 

[Baluncore]

Simplistically, it seems like the shorter the lever arm of the shovel the more mass you can lift.

But how far can you throw that mass when you are only held lightly to the ground by the "lower g" * "friction coefficient" ? Maybe you need to get weighted boots for use with the longer handled shovel.

I believe a shovel handle is longer than needed for digging because it enables you to throw the material further than from a spade. You slide the handle through your lower hand as you accelerate and cast the contents to the LZ.

The 'D' handle spade is a different issue as the fulcrum is at the soil surface and the handle must be near your hands, that are near your waist.

 

[diogenesNY]

Golf was played on the moon. (Okay, not a proper round, but a few balls were hit with a somewhat improvised iron). I am not sure that the distance the balls traveled was accurately measured, however I am confident that the distance would have made Arnold Palmer grumble with envy! :)

Seems that with most of these things, it is mostly a matter of adjusting technique. The difficulties would seem to get magnified as momentum/inertia increase.

---diogenesNY

 

[DaveC426913]

I believe a shovel handle is longer than needed for digging because it enables you to throw the material further than from a spade.

Pretty sure shovels are as long as they are to save human backs.
A torment technique in hard labour prisons was to give the prisoner a short-handled shovel, which would destroy his back when heaving dirt.

(Yes, notwithstanding valid specialized uses for short-handled shovels).

 

[Baluncore]

Pretty sure shovels are as long as they are to save human backs.

Yes, with a longer handle you can move the material further, without injuring your back.

 

[DaveC426913]

Yes, with a longer handle you can move the material further, without injuring your back.

I think its more about not having to bend so far over to reach the dirt and lift it.

With a short handle, you are forced to lock your spine and all its tiny muscles in an unnatural, hunched position in order to get the leverage to lift.

You must shape yourself like a lowercase 'r' rather than more of a lowercase 'l'. Before even getting to the throw, you're already mangling your spine just lifting.

 

[Baluncore]

You must shape yourself like a lowercase 'r' rather than more of a lowercase 'l'. Before even getting to the throw, you're already mangling your spine just lifting.

You can dig a garden with a short 'D' handle spade because you are working at ground level to cut soil, then dropping or folding it into the hole or trench as you advance.

A shovel is designed not to dig, but to slide along a flat surface to pick up material from that surface, then in the same action to raise and throw the material into a container or onto a heap. When using a long handled shovel you do not bend your back, you plant your forward foot with leg partly bent, with back and arm straight and parallel, then press down on the handle end with the back arm to lift the load while straightening your forward leg. Your forward leg does the work. Once lifted, both arms then control the trajectory of the load. The angle of lean on the straight body will depend on the direction you are throwing the material. The position of your hands on the long handle will set the lever ratio when lifting and throwing. You adjust that dynamically.