What Causes the Earth to Have Tides?

The Earth has tides because of the moon's pull. Imagine you're holding a balloon filled with water, if someone pulls on it from far away, the water moves. That’s what happens when the moon pulls on the oceans. Sometimes the sun helps too, making the tides bigger or smaller.

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Examples

Imagine the moon is a big magnet that pulls water on one side of the Earth up like a wave, while the other side also gets pulled up because it’s left behind.
If you’re swimming in the ocean and the tide comes in, it feels like the whole sea is pushing you forward, that's the Moon pulling the water.
When the sun and moon line up to pull together on Earth's oceans, the tides get even bigger, sometimes causing floods.

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Categories: Science · tides,moon,gravity