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🌙 How does the moon cause tides?

Gravity gradients from Moon and Sun stretch the oceans as Earth rotates through the bulges.

lessons

~10 min

to learn

🔬 Science

subject

Adults

level

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What you’ll learn

Gravity’s tug on a moving oceanExplain tidal forces and the two-bulge sketch.Tides come from gravity gradients of Moon and Sun. Earth’s rotation carries coasts through high and low water patterns.
Spring, neap, and real coastsDescribe spring/neap cycles and local resonance.Aligned Sun and Moon make larger ranges. Basins like Fundy amplify. Currents are the horizontal partner of rising water.
What tides are notSeparate myths, weather setup, and solid-Earth tides.Not moonlight pressure. Storms add surge. Even rock flexes slightly under the same forces.

Questions this course answers

Why does the Moon influence ocean tides more than the Sun despite weaker total gravity on Earth?

Tidal forces depend on the difference in gravity across Earth’s diameter; proximity increases that gradient for the Moon.

Order the spring-tide idea

Alignment makes springs; right angles make neaps.

Why might a coastal flood happen even when the astronomical tide is not at its absolute yearly maximum?

Weather-driven water level changes superimpose on the tidal prediction.

Grounded in trusted sources

NOAA tides and currents educational pages
NASA moon/Earth tide explainers
Open university oceanography texts on amphidromic systems
Bay of Fundy resonance educational geology resources

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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