Astronomy › Section D · Earth, Moon, and sky › Topic D.5
Ocean tides and the Moon
Twice a day the sea rises and falls along most coasts. The cause is not simply the Moon's pull but the difference in that pull from one side of Earth to the other, and over billions of years those tides are reshaping the Earth-Moon system itself.
In this topic
- A clue in the timing
- Stretching Earth along the Earth-Moon line
- Worked example: the size of the Moon's tidal pull
- How the bulges form
- Two tides a day
- The Sun's share: spring and neap tides
- Worked example: why the Moon beats the Sun
- Real tides are messier
- Tides slow Earth and push the Moon away
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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