How does Astronomy affect the ocean?

Answer 1

The very quick and dirty answer: Our moon plays a major role in the tides of the earth's oceans because the earth and moon are attracted to each other gravitationally.

A little more detail: The earth-moon system has a center of gravity, called the Barycenter. This is a point located within the body of the earth, and which moves in such a way that it is always in line with the earth's center and the moon's center. The moon's gravity pulls on the oceans that are right below the moon, and the moon's gravity is a little weaker on the other side of the earth. At the same time, the earth is orbiting the Barycenter (this would be observed as a wobble in earth's orbit if observed from far enough away), causing a bit of a 'push back' on the oceans on the other side.

A:It's not the moon's gravity alone, but the interaction of the earth and moon. One influence is the fact that the earth-moon system orbits around the common center of gravity of earth-moon. This point is called the barycenter, and it is within the body of the earth since earth's mass is considerably larger than the moon's mass. As the earth wobbles around the barycenter, it tends to push the water out from behind the barycenter. At the same time, the gravitational attraction of the moon is stronger on the water that is moon-side than it is on the water on the opposite side of earth. So there is a high tide bulge on two opposite sides of the earth at once, and of course then there are two low tide areas at roughly 90 degree angles to the high tides. A:Tidal forces are caused by the differential pull of gravity on a planetary body or moon.

Consider the Earth-moon system. The Earth and moon are orbiting around their common center of mass, which is a point that lies somewhere inside the Earth since the Earth is so much more massive than the moon. So since we are in orbit around this center of gravity, we don't feel the moon's gravitational force, much like how astronauts in orbit don't feel the gravitational force of the Earth, even though it is pulling on them all the same.

However, because the Earth is a large body, the pull of the moon is stronger on the side of the earth facing the moon and weaker on the opposing side. The pull of the moon at the center of the Earth falls in the middle. The effect of this differential pull is that the water on the near side wants to pull away from the Earth, and the Earth wants to pull away from the water on the far side. This net effect is a force that tends to stretch the earth and oceans, creates two tidal bulges, hence two high tides per day and two tides per day. The water of course is much more deformable than the Earth itself, so it is the oceans we see forming the tidal bulges. Low tide occurs at the location on the earth at right angles to the Earth - moon line, and high tide occurs along the Earth-moon line.

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A:But it's not just the force of gravity (the sun's force is much greater than the moon's) but the DIFFERENCE between the force of gravity on the nearer side of the Earth as compared to the farther side.

As the moon passes over the Earth, since it has its own gravitational pull, it slightly lessens the force of the gravity on the Earth. The lessened gravity when the moon is over the oceans causes the ocean's surface to rise, so the tide goes in.

A:The gravity of the moon pulls on the oceans of the Earth, to help create the tides.

Answer 2

The combined gravity of the sun and moon and the rotation of the Earth causes the ocean height to rise and fall. These interacts of the sun. moon, and Earth account for the ocean's high tides and low tides. These two tides happen each day.

Answer 3

Let us discuss the simpler problem of the Moon and Earth before including the Sun.

There are basically three forces working on the oceans (actually they are working on everything here on Earth, but the oceans can flow so the effect is noticeable), these are:

-The gravity of Earth pulling the oceans towards the Earth's center.

-The gravity of the Moon pulling the ocean towards the Moon.

-A centrifugal force resulting from the rotation of the Earth and Moon system. The Moon does not actually move around the Earth; rather they both move around a common point in space called the centre of mass. This point is within the Earth's radius however. This motion creates a (fictious) force pointing away from the Earth-Moon system.

The resulting potential well is a so-called Roche surface, and results in the following shape for the seas: A bulge on the side of the Earth near the Moon (because of the attraction by the Moon), and another one on the complete opposite side of the Earth (because of the centrifugal force). Because there is more water in these bulges there is less everywhere else.

Because the Earth rotates the locations of these bulges changes with time. It can be said that the Earth rotates 'underneath them'. The Earth rotates in about 24 hours, so the same bulge will visit the same spot roughly every 24 hours. A bulge causes a high tide. If you are in between two bulges you have low tide(remember there is less water there). Because there are two bulges you have a flood and an ebb every 12 hours.

The Sun has a similar effect, but because it is much further away the effects will not be as great; the induced tides are much less powerful. Because the Sun is also generally in a different direction from Earth than the Moon the bulges will also be in a different location.

Sometimes the Moon and Sun align and their bulges amplify each other resulting in a more pronounced tides. This is commonly called spring tide.

Because the Moon moves in an almost circular orbit around the Earth the distance between the Earth and Moon has little to no effect.

Answer 4

It causes the oceans to rise resulting in high tide because the moon's gravity pulls on the water along with the earth's rotation. The same thing happens on the opposite side of the earth because the earth is being pulled away from that water.

Answer 5

the sun has a much smaller effect than the moon. the moon pulls anything toward it wherever it is over earth, which is usually ocean due to the fact that earth is almost all water, so the moon pulls ocean water toward it, causing rougher seas

Answer 6

Yes, that effect causes the Tides (high and low).

Answer 7

Makes lunar tides, that strip angular momentum from the Earth's rotation, and boost the Moon's orbit.

Answer 8

The Moon's gravitational pull on the Earth creates our tides. That is why we see the sea coming in and out each day.

Answer 9

The moon has a gravitational pull on water, which is what creates tides.

Answer 10

there is a gravitational pull