Tides are among the steadiest forces of the Earth.
These forces of water move onto land from the ocean before taking the water back.
Tides Explained
Tides generally refer to sea level rise and fall. There are times of the day when more water is present in one location. At other times of the day, less water could be present.
Interestingly, this tidal effect's impact is not limited to water. There is also a phenomenon known as Earth tide, which refers to when the solid Earth experiences shape changes directly because of the Sun and Moon's pressures.
However, this is not as noticeable compared to what takes place within the ocean.
High Tides and Low Tides
Similar to everything else in the universe with mass, the Moon also has a gravitational field of its own. Such a field is strong enough to lead to a tug on the oceans of the Earth.
Since the Moon rotates the planet, its tug's strength may specifically depend on the time of the day as well as the location.
The Moon is largely the reason behind low tides, when less water is present, and high tides when more water is present. The majority of coastlines experience two low tides and two high tides in a single day.
Though the Moon has the biggest role when it comes to tides, it is not the sole planetary object that is involved in the tidal effect.
The Sun also affects tides on Earth. Though the Moon's proximity to the Earth causes it to yield a greater impact, the Sun's impact on tides can still be noticed.
The Earth, Sun, and Moon all align during the Full Moon or New Moon. Such an alignment enables all of their gravitational forces to combine with each other, resulting in the creation of stronger tides called spring tides.
However, the three cosmic bodies don't stay aligned for long. Soon, they stop being aligned with one another.
A week after a spring tide happens, the Sun and the Moon get positioned at 90 degrees from one another. This alignment results in a tug of war wherein tides become oddly weak. This leads to what is known as neap tides.
Spring tides always occur when the Moon is in its new or full phase. As for neap tides, they take place during the first and last quarter phases of the Moon.
Earth's Gravity Also Deforms the Moon
Interestingly, the gravity of the Earth also has hints of deformation over the lunar surface.
While this deformation is not as dramatic compared to ocean tides, these Moon tides can be gauged with lasers. There are also instances where there are visible effects.
Young lunar cliffs known as lobate scarps end up forming due to the mixed forces of the contracting Moon with the cooling of its hot interior and the pulling of Earth's gravity on the surface.
As such, these contractions result in the buckling of the Moon's crust. They end up getting pushed together for cliffs to be created.
Scientists who have examined such cracks have discovered that their positions are associated with Earth's gravity pull.
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