Here I have found a video/resource to explain tides in an animated way.
Tides happen everyday on Earth. We experience 4 tides a day, 2 high and 2 low. Each high and low tide are 6 hours apart from each other, so that means each high tide is 12 hours apart, same for low tides. What causes these tides is the force of pull from the moon. The moon pulls the water and Earth towards it, but the Earth fights back, kind of like tug of war. Since the Earth pulls back to stay in its orbital, it causes the tide bulge, which is the oval water shape in the video. If the moon pulls the water closest to it/ the side of Earth facing it with let's say 5N, then the other water side is being pulled with -5N because of this tug of war. Negative is a force in the other direction. This means that if theres a high or low tide on one side of the earth, then it's the same on the opposite side.
Tides are caused by the phases of the moon and sun. When the sun and moon line up with he earth in somewhat a straight line, those are called spring tides, when the tides are higher then usual. when the moon is on one side of the earth and the sun is on the other side, 90 degrees, this forms neap tides.
http://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Grand-Cayman-Cayman-Islands/tides/latest
Here are the tides of the Cayman Islands, the main island, Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman experienced high tide, going down to low tide when I wrote this. These tides/this beach is going to experience spring tides in the next few days, since it's going to be a new moon. So they are getting ready for those high and low tides.
I loved that you explained where high and low tides were happening on the Earth at a given point, also the tug of war metaphor is very visual. I understand what you're saying because I already know the science of it though, I would suggest clearly stating that it is the difference in the force on either side of the Earth that causes the equal and opposite bulge not the fact that the earth pulls back.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jillian, you should clarify the bulge created by the different forces on either side of the Earth. Other than that, your video explains things well and the use of the tide chart shows things very well.
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