1. Phases of the Moon

For my conceptual interview, I chose to use the topic of the phases of the moon to see if people fully understand what exactly happens. It's probably easiest to understand the moon cycle in this order: new moon and full moon, first quarter and third quarter, and the phases in between. The new moon occurs when the moon is positioned between the earth and sun. The three objects are in approximate alignment. The entire illuminated portion of the moon is on the backside of the moon, the half that we cannot see. At a full moon, the earth, moon, and sun are in approximate alignment, just as the new moon, but the moon is on the opposite side of the earth, so the entire sunlit part of the moon is facing us. The shadowed portion is entirely hidden from view.

The first quarter and third quarter moons happen when the moon is at a 90-degree angle with respect to the earth and sun. So we are seeing exactly half of the moon illuminated and half in shadow. Once you understand these four key moon phases, the phases between should be fairly easy to visualize, as the illuminated portion gradually transitions between them.

An easy way to remember and understand these lunar phase names is by defining 4 words: crescent, gibbous, waxing, and waning. The word crescent refers to the phases where the moon is less than half illuminated. The word gibbous refers to phases where the moon is more than half illuminated. Waxing essentially means "growing" or expanding in illumination, and waning means "shrinking" or decreasing in illumination.

Thus you can simply combine the two words to create the phase name, as follows: After the new moon, the sunlit portion is increasing, but less than half, so it is waxing crescent. After the first quarter, the sunlit portion is still increasing, but now it is more than half, so it is waxing gibbous. After the full moon, the light continually decreases. So the waning gibbous phase occurs next. Following the third quarter is the waning crescent, which wanes until the light is completely gone, creating a new moon.

1. Results

To record a summary of my findings, I interviewed 3 of my friends here at King’s College. My conceptual questions included what are the different phases of the moon? How does a new moon occur? And what are the 4 lunar phases? First interview was my roommate Joe Fino. Joe was well informed about the phases of the moon and had remembered them from past knowledge.  I was surprised that he knew the full answers to all three questions. The second interview I conducted was another friend Sean Piscatelli. Sean was well informed about the phases of the moon as well, but not as much as Joe. Sean did not even know any of the lunar phases of the moon, which are crescent, gibbous, waxing, and waning. Once reminded of these phases however, he recalled what they meant and was able to give me the definition of crescent and gibbous but not waxing and waning. The third interview conducted was a random kid I asked on the street who was Dan Comunale. Dan was not well informed about the phases of the moon. He did not know how a new moon occurred or all of the phases of moon. However, he knew the 4 lunar phases of waxing, waning, crescent and gibbous.

1. Reaction and Improvement

I was honestly surprised that my three interviewers knew as much as they did due to the fact that we haven’t been educated about the phases of the moon since high school or even elementary schools. All three interviews had decent knowledge about the phases of the moon and could explain each of the answers they had thoroughly. I believe that we should perhaps be reminded of the phases of the moon in high school science classes and possibly even a Core class that explains the phases and how they all occur. This may improve the conceptual understanding of the phases of the moon for students our age.

Thanks for reading!