What happens on the side of the earth opposite of the moon?

Answer 1

The ocean directly under the Moon bulges out when it is pulled by the Moon's gravity. The bulge on the far side of the planet is caused by the centrifugal rotation of the Earth-Moon system. (The far side is being "spun out" from the combined Earth-Moon mass as it rotates, because it is able to move away from the center of gravity.)

The solid portion of Earth's surface is also affected, but less obviously.

Answer 2

The Earth "feels" the Moon's pull as weakest on the side facing away from the Moon. So, mathematically, there is a force away from the center of the Earth at this side, relative to the center of the Earth.

Water reacts to this more easily than the land, hence the "mysterious" far side

bulge. Yes it's hard to believe at first, but that's the really scientific answer.

Answer 3

I believe that you're thinking of tidal shifts. The moon is extremely important to the Earth because of how it creates our tides. Think of the amount of gravity that the moon has and how that would affect the oceans on the Earth. When the moon is over the Atlantic Ocean is pulls the Atlantic towards it and away from the Earth. At the same time the Pacific Ocean is also pulled towards the moon but towards the center of the earth as well. Since the moon orbits the Earth, the fluctuation of which ocean is pulled where creates our tides.

(john here) the above is wrong.

There are two high tides every 24 hours. These occur at exact opposite sides of the Earth. The highest of them occurs when the Moon is pulling directly on the oceans at that point. The secondary high tide occurs because of the mutual orbit effect between the Earth and the Moon. Just like two people holding onto opposite ends of a rope and running around each other, there is a force trying to pull them apart. That force causes the secondary high tides on the side opposite the Moon.

Answer 4

Gravity.The Moon pulls on the Earth and the Earth pulls on the Moon. It is this gravity that causes the tides to rise just after the moon passes overhead. There is a short delay in moving that many gallons of water. Many scientists believe the tides are what is responsible for slowing down the Earths rotation because the water is always trying to "keep up" with the Moons gravitational pull. That same bulge also speeds up the moons orbit causing the distance between the Moon and Earth to increase. One more interesting thing is that the tide also rises on the opposite face of the Earth from the Moon too.

In my own thoughts I would think the opposing face of the earth experiences high tides due to oscillation or what could be thought of as two giant waves.

Answer 5

It may help to think of it like this:

The Moon's pull pulls the water on the near side towards itself more than it pulls the Earth towards itself. That one's easy to see.

On the far side, though, the Moon pulls the Earth towards itself more than it pulls the water on the far side towards itself, so in effect the water gets "left behind" a little.

Answer 6

It's a common misconception that the Moon's gravity pulling on the Earth has "pulled the water up" and toward the Moon. So why a tidal bulge on the OPPOSITE side of the Earth?

The real explanation is a bit more complex. The Earth and the Moon are both orbiting their common center of gravity, which is inside the Earth but not at the center of the Earth. We can think of the center of Earth as at least a little bit orbiting the Moon. Things closer in orbit more quickly, and things further out orbit more slowly. But if two things - or millions of things - are all connected together and have to orbit as a unit, the "near side" is moving too slowly, and ought to fall, while the far side is orbiting too quickly and ought to rise. Think of each cubic meter of water as a single unit. Cubes of water on the side closest to the Moon are orbiting more slowly than they should, and tend to fall. A cube of water on the far side of the Earth is moving too quickly, and tries to rise into its "proper" location. The sum of all these gravitational and inertial forces cause a tidal bulge on BOTH sides of the Earth.

Answer 7

There are two high tides ... one on the side of the earth facing the moon, and another one on the exact opposite side of the earth. Here's the simplest way to understand why that happens: Gravity is stronger at closer distances, and weaker at further distances. The nearer something is to the gravitational 'puller', the harder it will be pulled. Nearest to the moon: Water on the side of earth facing the moon. Pulled hardest toward the moon. In the middle: The Earth itself. Pulled moderately toward the moon. Farthest from the moon: Water on the side of earth facing away from the moon. Pulled least toward the moon. Since the water nearest the moon AND the earth itself are both pulled harder toward the moon than the water on the back side, the result is that a water-bulge appears to develop on the back side. It isn't because the water in that area 'rises', AWAY from the moon. It's because the earth in that area 'sinks', TOWARD the moon.

Answer 8

The gravity of the Moon pulls the water on the Earth towards it.

Answer 9

Why does the side of the moon that faces away from the earth have more craters than the side that faces the earth?

the side facing away from the earth is impacted by more meteoriods

Answer 10

because it is low tide on the side of the earth closest to the moon causing a shift in the water level on the opposite side.