The moon pulls the oceans like a giant magnet. Imagine you're holding onto a rope, and your friend is on the other end, when they move, you feel it too. The moon does this with gravity. When it's close to Earth, it tugs on the water in the ocean, making it rise up into a tidal bulge. On the opposite side of Earth, another bulge forms because the water is being pulled away from Earth itself. As Earth spins, these bulges move around, that’s why we get high and low tides twice every day.
Examples
- When you're near the moon, your hand feels its pull; similarly, the part of Earth facing the moon gets a high tide from that same gravitational tug.
- On the opposite side of Earth, the water is being pulled away, like when you stretch one end of a rope, that's where another high tide forms.
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See also
- How Does the Moon Affect Earth’s Tides?
- What Makes the Ocean Tides Happen?
- How the tides REALLY work?
- How Does Tides: Crash Course Astronomy #8 Work?
- What is The Moon pulls on Earth like a giant magnet?