From earth the moon has the same apparent diameter as the sun. I assume that the sun is denser than the moon so why doesnt the sun have at least as great an affect on earths tides as the moon?
==> The sun does have an affect on the tides, but it turns out to be less because of a a (r/R)^4 dependence of the forces. Here, r is the radius of the earth, and R is the distance from the moon or sun. Note also that it is only the horizontal forces which create tides, not the total gravitational force. If you want to understand this better, I found a nice web page: http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/geol/tides.htm 2. How many light years across is the universe? I’ve seen estimates that are far greater than the estimated age of the universe. How is that possible? If inflation only brought the universe to grapefruit size that doesn’t seem to be much of a factor in bringing it to its present size.
Related Questions
- From earth the moon has the same apparent diameter as the sun. I assume that the sun is denser than the moon so why doesnt the sun have at least as great an affect on earths tides as the moon?
- Why do the relative positions of earth, moon, and sun affect natural phenomenon on earth?
- Why there is tides on opposite sides of moon and Sun on the earth?
