Moon effecting the earth

[keys]

How does the moon effect the tides? Is it only by gravity? Does the sunlight control the tides in some way too. Does the moon effect the earth in other ways?

[steveb]

i am not aware of the sunlight having any effect on the tides, however it is the gravitational field if the moon which attracts the oceans towards it creating a high tide one one side of the body of water and a low tide on the other.

[Trillipse]

in the spirit of friendship, it should be "affect the tides". Although in this particular context, "effect the tides has an even more erudite gleam! fair play! it's only the title of the question that gives it away.

the moon affects (makes a difference to) the sea with the regard to the tides. however, it could be said to some extent to effect (in some way cause) the tides...

ridiculous pedantry 's'us, but nice point on which to make the point(s)

[Trillipse]

and it's always good to make more mistakes in a correction than in the original item being corrected.

hoho.

i will learn to type more slowly and think more fasterly.

[fo3nix]

As the Moon passes round the Earth, its gravitational pull attracts the water on the Earth's surface. Because the Moon is constantly moving round the Earth, this produces a kind of elastic effect with the water. Like if you pull a guitar string and let it go, it vibrates back and forth. So this gives a kind of elliptical shape to the water, which results in tides.

[Gef]

High tides occur on opposite side of the Earth at the same time. Low tides occur on those "sides" of the Earth which are not in direct line with the moon. The sun also has an effect.

[JudgeJ]

The “tidal effect” that one body has upon another causes an elongation in the direction of the gravitational pull. That is why we get high tides where the moon is directly above the earth and also opposite that point. The effect is actually caused by the difference between the gravitational pull that the moon exerts on the side of the earth nearest to it and the side that is furthest away.

The sun also effects the tides, though to a much lesser degree. Gravitational forces vary with the square of the distance between the two bodies whilst tidal forces vary with the cube of the distance. Although much more massive, the sun is 400 times as far from the earth as the moon is, so its tidal effect is diluted by a factor of 64million.

The movement of the tides has a profound effect on the earth, influencing weather and evolution among other things.

[mibn2cweus]

Gravitational pull also works on the interior of Moon and Earth.  This rearranges material within creating heat and friction.  This slows the rotation and in the case of the Moon has slowed rotation to the point that its rotation is in sync with its revolution around the Earth.  This is called tidal lock and is why we only see one side of the Moon as it travels around the Earth