The moon's gravity pulls in the tide.
Tidal acceleration describes the forces that celestial bodies exert on the ocean. Though planets and the sun affect tidal acceleration, the only significant effect comes from the earth's moon, the closest significant body. The earth and moon's properties determine the tidal acceleration. Acceleration is a function of both the earth's rotation and the moon's revolution. A point's tidal acceleration depends on the radius of the earth, the distance to the moon, the moon's mass and the gravitational constant.
Instructions
1. Square 384,400,000, the distance between the earth and the moon measured in meters: 384,400,000 ^ 2 = 1.477 x 10^17.
2. Divide 1 by this answer: 1 / (1.477 x 10^17) = 6.77 x 10^-18.
3. Add 384,400,000, the distance between the earth and the moon, and 6,371,000, the radius of the earth: 384,400,000 + 6,371,000 = 390,771,000.
4. Square the answer to Step 3: 390,771,000 ^ 2 = 1.527 x 10^17.
5. Divide 1 by the answer to Step 4: 1 / (1.527 x 10^17) = 6.549 x 10^-18.
6. If the point in the ocean is on the side of the earth facing the moon, subtract the answer to Step 2 from the answer to Step 5: (6.549 x 10^-18) - (6.77 x 10^-18) = -2.21 x 10^-19. If the point is on the far side of the earth from the moon, subtract the answer to Step 5 from the answer to Step 2.
7. Multiply 6.673 x 10^-11, the gravitational constant, by 7.348 x 10^22, the mass of the moon: (6.673 x 10^-11) x (7.348 x 10^22) = 4.9 x 10^12.
8. Multiply the answers to Steps 6 and 7: (-2.21 x 10^-19) x (4.9 x 10^12) = approximately -1.08 x 10^-6. The point's tidal acceleration is close to 1.08 x 10^-6 meters per second squared.
Tags: answer Step, earth moon, 10^17 10^-18, 10^17 Divide, answer Step 10^17