Front Side of the Moon

[kwb]

How did the moon's orbit and rotation happen so that we only see one side?

[Colt]

I am doing this from memory so some of it might be wrong..

The Moon is tidal locked to the Earth. This means that one side is always facing it because over time the larger gravity of the Earth has created a bulge on the face closest to the Earth. As the moon orbits, that side is held closest to the Earth because of its larger mass. So, as the Moon orbits we can only see that face of it. When the Moon orbits it moves into or out of our field of view, the lighted side at least.

I'm sure someone will correct me on some of this. -Colt

[frenat]

I think it is more that the revolution had slowed down over hundreds of thousands of years until it matched the orbital period. Mercury is also tidally locked to the sun if I remember correctly and given enough time, it would happen to earth as well but I thinkthe figures I saw on that said the sun would die first.

[kucharek]

Mercury is also tidally locked to the sun if I remember correctly...

Nope.
http://www.nineplanets.org/mercury.html

Until 1962 it was thought that Mercury's "day" was the same length as its "year" so as to keep that same face to the Sun much as the Moon does to the Earth. But this was shown to be false in 1965 by doppler radar observations. It is now known that Mercury rotates three times in two of its years. Mercury is the only body in the solar system known to have an orbital/rotational resonance with a ratio other than 1:1 (though many have no resonances at all).

This fact and the high eccentricity of Mercury's orbit would produce very strange effects for an observer on Mercury's surface. At some longitudes the observer would see the Sun rise and then gradually increase in apparent size as it slowly moved toward the zenith. At that point the Sun would stop, briefly reverse course, and stop again before resuming its path toward the horizon and decreasing in apparent size. All the while the stars would be moving three times faster across the sky. Observers at other points on Mercury's surface would see different but equally bizarre motions.

[Kaptain K]

Actually, Mercury is tidally locked. 3:2 resonance is a type of tidal lock. 8)

[kilopi]

The Moon is tidal locked to the Earth. This means that one side is always facing it because over time the larger gravity of the Earth has created a bulge on the face closest to the Earth. As the moon orbits, that side is held closest to the Earth because of its larger mass. So, as the Moon orbits we can only see that face of it. When the Moon orbits it moves into or out of our field of view, the lighted side at least.

I'm sure someone will correct me on some of this. -Colt

I just want to point out that Colt and BA, our "first" two users, have the exact same post count, 1494.

Tidal bulges are on both front and back side. There is a lunar mass concentration offset towards this side of the moon, but it is not really directly towards the Earth, it's off by thirty degrees or so, IIRC.