How Does the Moon Affect the Oceans?

The Moon pulls on the Earth, making the oceans rise and fall. Imagine you're holding a bucket of water, if someone pulls it from afar, the water moves up and down in the bucket like the ocean. That's how tides work! When the Moon is close to us, it pulls more strongly, creating bigger tides called spring tides. When the Moon is farther away, the pull is weaker, making smaller tides known as neap tides.

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Examples

The water in a swimming pool moves up when someone stands near it, just like how the ocean bulges under the Moon.
Imagine being on a seesaw: you go up when your friend is down, just as the ocean goes high while another part of Earth goes low.
If the Moon were closer to us, tides would be more extreme, imagine waves that reach much higher than usual.

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Categories: Environment · tides· moon· ocean· gravity· environment