What Causes the ‘Tide’ and How Does It Change Daily?

Imagine you're on a swing. When someone pushes you, you go higher, and when they stop pushing, you come back down. The Moon is like that pusher in the sky. It pulls the water in the ocean up towards it, making the tide rise. When the Moon moves away, the tide goes down. But sometimes the Sun helps or even fights with the Moon, changing how high or low the tides get each day.

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Examples

When you're on the beach, the water comes up to your feet, that's a high tide. When it goes away, that's a low tide.
Sometimes the ocean is really high when you come in, and sometimes not so much, that’s because the Sun helps or fights with the Moon.
Imagine a giant invisible hand pulling the water on one side of Earth while letting it go on the other, that’s how tides work.

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Categories: Science · tides,moon,gravity,oceanography