Tides are created because the Earth and the moon are attracted to each other, just like magnets are attracted to each other. The moon tries to pull at anything on the Earth to bring it closer, but the Earth is able to hold everything except the water. Since the water is a liquid, the Earth cannot hold to it, and the moon is able to pull at it. Each day, there are two high tides and two low tides. The ocean is constantly moving from high tide to low tide, repeating this process indefinitely. There is about 12 hours and 25 minutes between the two high tides. Tides are the constant rise and falling of large and some small bodies of water. Winds and currents move the surface water causing waves. The gravitational attraction of the moon …show more content…
When the sun and moon are not aligned, the gravitational forces cancel each other out, and the tides are not as dramatically high and low, these are called neap tides.
When the moon is full or new, the gravitational pull of the moon and sun are combined. At these times, the high tides are very high and the low tides are very low. This is known as a spring high tide. Spring tides are especially strong tides spring tides occur during full and new moon phases showing that they do not correlate with Spring. Spring tides occur when the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon are in a line. The gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun both give to the tides. Spring tides occur during the full moon and the new moon.
During the moon 's quarter phases the sun and moon work at different angles, causing the bulges to cancel each other. The result is a smaller difference between high and low tides and is known as a neap tide. Neap tides are especially weak tides that occur when the gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun are near a right angle to one another. Neap tides occur during quarter