why does the sun exert a bigger force on the earth when the earth and the moon are the same distance apart?

Answer 1

Your question is a little vague. Are you asking why the Sun attracts the Earth more strongly than it does the Moon when the Moon and Earth are effectively the same distance from the Sun? The simple answer is that Earth has more mass than the Moon, so it is exerting a stronger gravity pull on the Sun than the Moon would. (Add the Sun's pull AND the Earth's counter-pull together.)

The better answer is that the Earth and Moon are a system and the Sun is just pulling on the combined gravity of the two. The Moon stays in orbit around the Earth because it is much nearer to the Earth than the Sun, so the Earth's gravity is more effective on the Moon. But the Moon also has gravity, so the Earth does "orbit" a little around the Moon. The center of this "orbit" is a bit closer to the Moon than the center of the Earth but still well inside the Earth, so we don't acknowledge the slight wobble. It is the equilibrium point established between Earth and Moon that the Sun is pulling.

If you're asking because the Sun has a stronger effect on Earth's tides than the Moon, I'm not sure that's true. Tides are more dramatic when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction or opposition and weakest when they are at 90 degrees to each other, but I think the Moon's effect is actually stronger.

Answer 2

The distance between the Moon and Earth has nothing to do with the Sun's gravitational pull on the Earth.

The only thing that influences the force of gravity between the Sun and Earth is the distance between the two bodies.

Since their masses (Sun and Earth) remain relatively constant, or at least we assume they do, the gravity force is greatest on the Earth when it is at its closest to the Sun, and at its least when the Earth is father from the Sun. (The Earth moves in a an elliptical, not circular orbit)

If you are asking why the Sun exerts greater force on the Earth than it does on the Moon when they are the same distance from the Sun, it is simply because the Earth is far more massive than the Moon.

Answer 3

Gravitational attraction.

It's a function of the mass of the two objects and the inverse square of the distance between the two objects, multiplied by a gravitational constant.

Therefore, even though the sun is much, much greater in mass than either the earth or the moon, the proximity of the moon to the earth in comparison to the sun allows the earth to have more gravitational influence over the moon.

Answer 4

The sun exerts a greater gravitational pull on Earth than the moon because Earth has a much larger mass.

Answer 5

The force is proportional to the masses of the two bodies and the inverse square of the distance between the two.

I just calculated it. The Sun-Earth gravitational attraction is about 200 times greater.

Answer 6

Gravitational force is derived from a couple factors. The mass of the objects, the distance between them, and the gravitational constant.

Mass is the greatest factor, and the sun is huge compared to the moon.

Answer 7

The Earth has more Mass, so the Sun's gravity has to "work harder" to drawe it closer, so a bigger force

Answer 8

cus the moon is smaller, cus is never directly collerated to the sun