OT - There are No Stupid Questions (...well, maybe one)

[old mart]

It must be more complicated than just the pull of the moon, because at the same time on the opposite side of the earth, there is also a high tide.

[aostling]

t


... that's neat, never knew that. Just looked it up and the opposite bulge is due to inertia (the water wants to continue in a straightline into space) due to the reduced gravitational pull of the moon. How crazy is that?

The explanation I'd seen previously involved force vectors, and the earth pulling away from the far-side bulge. I like your explanation better -- it is easier to grasp.

[mattthemuppet]

could be that too, though if the Earth were being pulled closer to the Moon, the Earth's gravity would make the water follow it. If the Earth were being pulled out of round slightly then the tide wouldn't be higher as the ground would also be proportionally higher. I got the explanation I found from NOAA's website
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/educat...3_gravity.html

[JRouche]

In the today's Parade Magazine column by Marilyn vos Savant,
"If the moon's gravity can lift the oceans, which weigh trillions of tonnes, why can't it pick up my dog who only weighs eight pounds?"

(In case you're unfamiliar with it, "Parade" is a little 6 or 8 page syndicated (nearly worthless) magazine included with many Sunday newspapers. .....the last few years its content has dwindled to near nothing.)

Funny. It was prolly why cant it pick up AFTER my dog. Cause, you know poop JR