Tides

Most people (including my past self) think that tides are only caused by the moon. While the moon does have a big impact on the tides. The sun also plays a big role in the way the tides move. The moon and the sun both have gravitational forces that pull on the Earth and cause it to bulge out on both sides. When the moon and the sun are aligned with this bulge the gravitational force is stronger because both forces are pulling in the same direction. This is when the tide changes become more drastic. This is called spring tide. And when the sun and moon forces are perpendicular to each other this causes a more average range of tides which is called neap tide. The image below shows the orientation of the moon and sun’s position that need to be met in order to create the high and low tides.

How does the Moon being so far away, affect the tides on Earth

We usually associate tides with the moon because of its gravitational force acting on the Earth. The gravitational force between the sun and the Earth is much stronger than the force between the moon and the Earth. But the sun is so far away that its pull is not as significant as the one the moon has. The moon has less gravitational force but is closer and orbits the Earth, which allows different parts of the Earth to be affected by this pull from the gravitational force.