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Water level on the surface of the oceans rises and falls. These are called tides. Tides are a result of gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun as well as the centrifugal forces of Earth’s spin. The total amount of water does not change; it just rises at one place while receding at the other. |
High tides and low tides are caused by the moon. The moon’s gravitational pull generates something called the tidal force. The tidal force causes Earth—and its water—to bulge out on the side closest to the moon and the side farthest from the moon. These bulges of water are high tides.
As the Earth rotates, your region of Earth passes through both of these bulges each day. When you’re in one of the bulges, you experience a high tide. When you’re not in one of the bulges, you experience a low tide. This cycle of two high tides and two low tides occurs most days on most of the coastlines of the world.
Tides are really all about gravity, and when we’re talking about the daily tides, it’s the moon’s gravity that’s causing them.
As Earth rotates, the moon’s gravity pulls on different parts of our planet. Even though the moon only has about 1/100th the mass of Earth, since it’s so close to us, it has enough gravity to move things around.
When the moon’s gravity pulls on the water in the oceans, however, someone’s bound to notice. Water has a much easier time moving around, and the water wants to bulge in the direction of the moon. This is called the tidal force.
Because of the tidal force, the water on the side of the moon always wants to bulge out toward the moon. This bulge is what we call a high tide. As your part of the Earth rotates into this bulge of water, you might experience a high tide.
Credit: SciJinks
Picture Credit : Google
