Is the gravitational pull of the moon stronger during a full moon?

Question

It IS amazing how many people are so sure but so far, gopigirl is the closest one to being right.

Answer 1

if you check the tide tables printed for your area on the earth you will notice significant differences in the tides all year long. There are 2 lows and 2 highs per day every day, approximately ever 6 hours, alternating high, low, high low. The tide table lists these 4 for you. The lowest lows-highs are known to be during the NEW MOON, esp during winter, but full moons are quite low-high too. So, yes, the moon does exert gravitational pull on the earth and its waters.

Full moon even affects birth rate (labor), moods, crime. Eclipses are also notorious for its effects on people as well.

Tide changes vary from place to place on the earth. Even a few miles north or south of the site a tide table is made for can affect the results predicted in the little tide booklet. The topography-geology of the bodies of water all over the world also affect this. Some places on the earth go thru MAJOR changes with the tides during these full and new moon phases every day.....Bay of Fundy is one place to look up......tidal change can by 30 feet. If there is a storm, then there is possiblity of even greater tide changes given in the tide tables.

Answer 2

Tides are the rising and falling of our ocean levels in comparison to land masses.
Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun. Imagine the sun to the
right side of this square.
Imagine the moon is at d. People at d and b will experience high tide while people at
a and c will have low tide.
a

d EARTH b SUN

c
Now 6 hours late when the moon is at c, a and c will have high tides and d and b will
have low tides. Then about 6 hours later at b, high tides again at d and b and low tides
at a and c. Whe the moon is at d or b, the gravity pull of the sun and moon each work
together. When the moon is at a or c, the moon and sun are at right angles to each other
and the power is vectored, changing the tides to a and c.

The phase of the moon has no effect on gravity, the distance from the earth does. If perigee happens during the full moon then the answer is yes.

Answer 3

Absolutely not.

Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation is,
F_g = (G * M * m) / r^2
where F_g is the force of gravity, G is the universal gravitational constant, M and m is the mass of the two bodies attracting eachother (the Earth and the moon), and r is the distance between the two objects' centers of mass.

For all intensive purposes, the mass of the Earth and the moon are relatively constant. Therefore, the distance between the Earth and the moon (which can vary slightly from time to time) is the only thing whcih will effect the gravitational pull from the moon. When the moon is farther away, its gravitational pull on the Earth is weakened, when it is closer, its pull is stronger.

The phase of the moon (full, new, half, quater) does not in any way effect the two factors on the moon which influence its gravitational pull (mass and distance).
A full moon and a new moon or anywhere in between will have the same gravitational attraction to the Earth assuming it has the same mass at the same distance away.

Answer 4

Yes. The gravitational pull is significantly increased during the first three days [ of the full moon cycle], well beyond the rest of the month, peaks on the day of the full moon, and then begins to lessen the 3 days following. While the gravitational pull is in play every day of the month, the days around the full moon are the strongest.

Answer 5

Well, ya' get a lot of good answers and a lot of terrible answers in Yahoo! answers. Only trouble is, you can't tell which are which. My two cents is that the mass of the moon doesn't change with the phase: full, new, in-between, the mass is always the same. It is the DISTANCE between earth and moon that governs the gravitational pull of EACH UPON THE OTHER. Since the moon's orbit around the earth is elliptical, the moon goes through perigee (its smallest distance to the earth) and apogee (its greatest distance) every month. Perigee and apogee can occur at any phase.

Answer 6

No, it just seems that way because tides tend to be higher and lower at that time. The reason for that is, during a full moon the sun and moon are opposite from each other with the earth in the middle. The ocean's waters are being pulled from two opposite directions, this is what causes the tides to be more extreme.

Answer 7

No, Weather a moon is full or not just depends on its position compared to the sun. The Moon's mass never changes therefore the Gravity never changes. Besides if the gravitational pull was any different than it is in our solar system we would not be alive. Everything is by some miracle perfect.

Answer 8

What makes me laugh is how many people said yes! No offense to them or you especially. You asked an honest, earnest question. But for people to answer blatantly wrong thinking they are right ... Yikes!

The full moon is simply a line of sight phenomenom with the sun. When the sun is fully shining on the moon it is full, when we (meaning the earth) get in the way, it is not full. It has no relation to how close it is or any gravitational enfluences. Tides are effected by the moon's orbit but that has little to do with how full the moon is. Thanks for asking.

Answer 9

No, the only thing that would affect the gravitational pull of the moon would be it's distance from the earth.

Answer 10

The gravitational potential is the same. But the pull that the earth gets is larger because of the fact that it is closer to earth than it is on other days.