What is the connection with the moon and the effect on our tides?

Answer 1

The moon and sun act together or in opposition to cause the tides that we see. Gravitational attraction of the moon and the sun causes the tides but not how most people think. Most people think that the moons gravitational attraction pulls the water on earth towards the moon thereby causing the tides. But if this were THE reason we have tides then we would only have one high tide per day and as you know we have two.

So What Does Cause the Tides?
If the earth we the only heavenly body the gravitational attraction of the earth would be the same everywhere and would be constant. This would result in no tides. However, the sun and moon both exert a gravitational force on the earth. These forces are relatively weak and we aren't sensitive enough to notice. But they are strong enough to alter the gravitational center of the earth.

Look at it this way. If you where at the center of a large mass in space. You would be pulled towards it. If you where to get inside of it and travel to the center you would be pulled equally in every direction. You would then be weightless. This point is the gravitational center of the object we will now call earth. Now since the other object, the moon also pulls on us we would no longer be weightless at the center of the earth, although it would be extremely small the moon would be pulling on us. As we moved toward the moon we would nolonger be at the center of the earths gravitational pull so it would start to pull on us. Once you reach a point where the pull of the earth is now countering the pull of the moon then you would again be wieghtless. This point exist in real life inside the earth closer to the surface than the true center of the earth. You must remember that even though the moons pull on you is small the force excerted on the earth is much larger because the earth is much larger.

The earth and moon both orbit this "center of mass". This orbital motion causes the earth to experience a centrifugal force on the side away from the moon, which forces the ocean in the direction away from the moon! So the centrifugal force forces water to a high tide on the one side of the earth while the gravitational pull of the moon causes a high tide on the other side of the earth. As the earth spins on its axis, a given seaside location will experience a high tide when the moon is at its closest, and then another one about ~12 hours later when it is on the other side of the earth from the moon.




Everyone knows that the earth is orbited by the moon once per day, right. Wrong. The moon orbits the earth once every 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes. The moon appears to orbit the earth once per day because the earth rotation occurs once every day. So if the moon were to stay exactly opposite the sun all the time then the tides would occur twice every 24 hours. But since the moon is slowly moving in a near circle around the earth it throws of the time a bit each day. The alternation of high and low tides is caused by the daily (or diurnal) rotation of the earth with respect to these two tidal humps and two tidal depressions.

So now you ask why do we have tidal difference cycle every 28 days. If the only large bodies around were the moon and the earth then all high tides would be the same intensity regard less of the where the moon was in its rotational cycle around the earth. But just as the moon exerts a gravitanal force on the earth, so does the sun. This same proceedure we did with the earth and moon also exist between the earth and the sun. The suns force is weaker than the force of the moon because of its much greater distance from the earth. When a straight line can be draw from the moon through the earth and to the sun then the sun and moons forces are working together. But when the moon and sun are at right angles to each other with respect to the earth then their forces are working against each other. So as you would expect the tides are strongest(highest) when they are working together and weakest when they are working against each other. These two tides are known as sping tide(strongest) and neap tide (weakest).

So there you have it the largest factors that give us tides. There are many other factors that affect the given strength of a particular tide such as moon distance, it's not constant, and many others. But they are not nearly as important. Hope this helps clear up some misconceptions and helps explain why we have tides.

Answer 2

Hello,

(ANS) The moon being our closest neighbour (our own satalite) in space has a direct gravitional influence on the earth. This gravitional influence ebbs & flows in strength according to how close or how far away the moon is physically to the earth.

NOTE: The moons orbit around the earth isnt a perfect circle and this is yet another reason why the power of the moons influence increases & decreases across the 12months of an earth year.

**Also the earth spins (rotates) on a slightly tilted axis, actually it wobbles slightly. This is the reason we experience seasons like we do here in the UK. This wobble effect also influences the moons gravitational pull. So you can begin to see this is actually quite a complex subject.

**This is why some high tides are stronger at certain peak times of the year than others. An example would be the river steven bore. Which takes place when the conditions allow for an exspecially high tide.

**The moon's gravitational influnece affects the actual height of the tides, the moons gravity pulls & pushes the oceans & thus the height of the water. This is why some tides are higher than others depending upon the a) time of the day b) time of the month c) time of the year.

IR

Answer 3

In a word "GRAVITY".

The moon's distance, and location greatly affects tide because of the "big picture" of things.

Our Earth's sea water - water in general - is fluid enough and of such a mass that the moon's gravity countered with Earth's gragivy creates "lo tide" and "hi tide".

Exactly how hi or lo the tide is depends on other factors such as winds, storms or tropical systems nearby and such. Also, how far from Earth the moon is will affect the tide patterns as well. This is because low pressures from storms, land masses, and our Moon's orbit having high and low points affect water. We'll focus on the Moon's affects sense it will be the most profound and the main reason why we have hi and lo tide.

Because of the OTHER factors of course getting an exact, accurate prediction is difficult. However, here is a good rule of thumb.

The CLOSER the moon is to you the more gravity that takes place to counter that of Earth. Thus, the higher the tide. The further away, the lower the tide.

There are a number of publications, applications, and other information you can use to learn more about tides. Also, there are websites where titel information can be generated. Below are some of these sources. Some cost - and I'm not here to sell anything - the information came from research on what materials you can find. Some will allow you to get an understanding to develop your own programs if you desire to do so later - but that's is your choice!

Sincerely,
Brian R Cross

Answer 4

Congratulations! May the birthing process go well for you and your child. If you would spend just a minute thinking about what a full moon actually is compared to a quarter moon or a new moon, you would quickly realize that the differences in the appearance of the moon is a function of the light shining on it from the sun. In other words, a full moon is no closer to Earth than a new moon or a third quarter moon! Whatever gravitational effects a full moon has on one, a new moon must have the same effects. As on e answer correctly pointed out, there are absolutely no tidal effects on the human body from the moon. However, there are tidal effects of the moon on our atmosphere. During a full and new moon our atmosphere experiences high tide. Such a change in the shape of our atmosphere will affect the distribution of the gases in the atmosphere, especially those gases high up in the ionosphere. Now, it could be that this redistribution of the ions in our atmosphere are felt by humans, much like one feels that the air is different just before a strong thunder storm. This might be why we associate the full and new moons with odd behavior.

Answer 5

The force of gravitational attraction, F, is given by:

F = m(1)m(2)/r^2 where m(1) is one of the two masses and m(2) is the other. m(1) could be the moon and m(2) could be the earth and r would be the mean distance between the centers of the two masses. The masses attract each other. Since the oceans can be physically moved by this attraction, tides are formed.

Answer 6

As the moon excerts its gravitational pull on the earth then a big mound of water forma on the side faceing and directly opposite of the moon. when the sun moon and earth make this pattern

Earth Sun


Moon


in a right angle then there is high tide all over the world.

Answer 7

gravity

Answer 8

This should tell you all you need to know.....

xxB