What are tidal forces?

Tidal forces are like when something big pulls on different parts of you, and that makes you stretch or squish a little bit.

Imagine you're holding onto two balloons by their strings. Now, imagine your friend comes running up and grabs one balloon really hard, but leaves the other one alone. What happens? The balloon that’s being pulled gets stretched out, while the other one stays in place. That's kind of like what tidal forces do!

Tidal forces happen when a big object, like the Moon or the Sun, pulls on different parts of the Earth with different strengths. The side of Earth that’s closer to the Moon feels a stronger pull than the side that’s farther away. This difference in pulling makes the water, and even the ground, stretch and squish a little bit, creating tides.

It's like having two friends tugging on your arms from opposite sides, you might feel stretched out in the middle! That’s why we get high and low tides as the Earth turns.