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By the end of this section, you will be able to:
  • Explain the origins of Earth’s ocean tides
  • Describe how neap and leap tides differ
  • Describe how tidal forces affect binary systems

The origin of Earth’s ocean tides has been a subject of continuous investigation for over 2000 years. But the work of Newton is considered to be the beginning of the true understanding of the phenomenon. Ocean tides are the result of gravitational tidal forces. These same tidal forces are present in any astronomical body. They are responsible for the internal heat that creates the volcanic activity on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons, and the breakup of stars that get too close to black holes.

Lunar tides

If you live on an ocean shore almost anywhere in the world, you can observe the rising and falling of the sea level about twice per day. This is caused by a combination of Earth’s rotation about its axis and the gravitational attraction of both the Moon and the Sun.

Let’s consider the effect of the Moon first. In [link] , we are looking “down” onto Earth’s North Pole. One side of Earth is closer to the Moon than the other side, by a distance equal to Earth’s diameter. Hence, the gravitational force is greater on the near side than on the far side. The magnitude at the center of Earth is between these values. This is why a tidal bulge appears on both sides of Earth.

The figure is an illustration of the earth centered within an exaggerated ellipse whose major axis is horizontal. The moon is shown to the right of the earth, moving counterclockwise. The left side of the ellipse is labeled as High tide, with a note that says “on far side, moon pulls earth more than water, creating a high tide.” The right side of the ellipse is labeled as High tide, with a note that says “on near side, moon pulls water more than earth, creating a high tide.” The top and bottom of the ellipse are labeled “Low tide.”
The tidal force stretches Earth along the line between Earth and the Moon. It is the difference between the gravitational force from the far side to the near side that creates the tidal bulge on both sides of the planet. Tidal variations of the oceans are on the order of few meters; hence, this diagram is greatly exaggerated.

The net force on Earth causes it to orbit about the Earth-Moon center of mass, located about 1600 km below Earth’s surface along the line between Earth and the Moon. The tidal force    can be viewed as the difference between the force at the center of Earth and that at any other location. In [link] , this difference is shown at sea level, where we observe the ocean tides. (Note that the change in sea level caused by these tidal forces is measured from the baseline sea level. We saw earlier that Earth bulges many kilometers at the equator due to its rotation. This defines the baseline sea level and here we consider only the much smaller tidal bulge measured from that baseline sea level.)

An illustration of the earth and the tidal forces shown as arrows at the surface of the earth. Near the poles, the arrows are short and point radially inward. As we move away from the poles, the arrows get longer and point increasingly away from the center. At 45 degrees, the arrows are tangent to the surface and point toward the equator. At the equator, the arrows are longest and point directly outward.
The tidal force is the difference between the gravitational force at the center and that elsewhere. In this figure, the tidal forces are shown at the ocean surface. These forces would diminish to zero as you approach Earth’s center.

Why does the rise and fall of the tides occur twice per day? Look again at [link] . If Earth were not rotating and the Moon was fixed, then the bulges would remain in the same location on Earth. Relative to the Moon, the bulges stay fixed—along the line connecting Earth and the Moon. But Earth rotates (in the direction shown by the blue arrow) approximately every 24 hours. In 6 hours, the near and far locations of Earth move to where the low tides are occurring, and 6 hours later, those locations are back to the high-tide position. Since the Moon also orbits Earth approximately every 28 days, and in the same direction as Earth rotates, the time between high (and low) tides is actually about 12.5 hours. The actual timing of the tides is complicated by numerous factors, the most important of which is another astronomical body—the Sun.

Questions & Answers

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Communication is effective because it allows individuals to share ideas, thoughts, and information with others.
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Every time someone flushes a toilet in the apartment building, the person begins to jumb back automatically after hearing the flush, before the water temperature changes. Identify the types of learning, if it is classical conditioning identify the NS, UCS, CS and CR. If it is operant conditioning, identify the type of consequence positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment
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Wekolamo
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Skinner skipped the whole unconscious phenomenon and rather emphasized on classical conditioning
war
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Source:  OpenStax, University physics volume 1. OpenStax CNX. Sep 19, 2016 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col12031/1.5
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