What are Tides ?

What are Tides?

Tide-

Tides are nothing but a rhythmic or periodic rise and fall of water in oceans twice a daily is called Tide, you might have noticed these phenomena, am I right!

Cause of tide-

Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of both Moon and the Sun on the Earth, and as we know that according to Newton's laws of universal gravitation says that the force of attraction between any two objects is proportional ( i.e if one increase than another also increases if one decrease than another also decreases) to the product of their masses and inversely proportional ( i.e if one increase than another decrease and if one decrease than another increase ) to the square of the distance between them.
so, the greater the mass of the object and both are closer to each other the force of attraction between then is high, so as we already know the mass of the Sun ( 1.989 * 10^30 kg ) now you can imagine that how much the force of attraction between the sun and the Earth.
The force of attraction between the Sun and the Moon is ( 35.573 * 10^21 N ).
Not only Sun but the moon also plays a vital role in Tide as the moon is much closer to the Earth so the Moon exerts a more gravitational force on the Earth, because as we saw above the according to Newton's laws of Universal Gravitation, ( Distance between the object is inversely proportional to the gravitational force acting between them ).

Types of Tides-

As we saw above the Sun and the Moon both are involved in the formation of Tides, so the formation of Tides should also different, because the distance between the Sun, Moon, and the Earth, as we know moon exert more gravitational force compared to the Sun.

Tides are of two types -

Spring Tide
Neap Tide

Spring Tide -

As we know the moon exerts a more gravitational force, therefore the water of the Earth's surface under the influence of the Moon's Gravitational force gets pulled and thus causes the formation of High Tide or Spring Tide.
It occurs when during the full Moon or sometimes occurs either before or after the Moon is straight overhead. In this Tide Moon and the Sun are in a straight line so they exert combined gravitational force thus form a very high tide.
( Image is given below shows the Spring Tide )

Neap Tide -

It is common that the Moon rotates around the Earth so with the change in position of the Moon with respect to the Sun the water on the Earth's surface gets drawn diagonally toward the sun and thus, causes the formation of the Neap Tide.
It occurs when the Moon is in first and in the third quarter.
( Image is given below shows the Neap Tide )

Importance of Tides -

High tides help in the navigation of big ships as when the water level rises this forces the ships to move forward and thus plays a very important role.
Tides are used to generate Hydroelectricity through large turbines, as when the water rises and falls the turbines are set there the falling of water cause the turbine to rotate, and hence generate Hydroelectricity.
You might not believe it also help in catching fish because due to the tide more fish came near the shore of the ocean or sea and help fisherman easily to catch fish.