Why do most coastal locations on Earth experience two high tides separated by two low tides each day?
This one had me for years. Start by assigning some simple values to the gravity of the moon on certain places around the earth. Assume that the pull of the moons gravity when directly above say England is at level 10. That causes a lump of water on that side of the ocean. You may remember that the pull of gravity decreases with the square of the distance, so while there is a significantly less force( lets say a 9) pulling at the water 8,000 miles away on the other side of the world, the ocean literally floats a bit higher there. Of course on the sides we see a low tide. There is a whole plethora of physics to explain why the 2 high tides are about equal, but that’s basically the reason for the two.
