The sun exerts almost 200 times more force on the oceans of Earth than the moon does. Why then, is the moon more effective in raising tides?

1 Answer
MeneerNask
Feb 22, 2016

Tides are raised by the difference in force. Near parts are atrracted more, and farther parts less.

Explanation:

The sun is 150 million km away. The pull on the 'near' side of earth's water is not very different from that on the far side (less than 1/100 of 1%)

The moon is much closer: the difference in 'pull' between near and far is more in the region of 2%.

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