Why do they have GIANT Tidal waves when there is a full moon?
The highest tides occur when the sun, the earth and the moon are all in line, and the gravitational attraction of the sun and the moon is aligned. These are called ‘spring tides’, and they happen during new moon (when the sun and the moon are on the same side), and full moon (when the sun and the moon are opposite each other). It is easy to understand why there are spring tides when the sun and the moom ‘pull together’during a new moon; but spring tide when the sun and the moon are pulling ‘against each other’ during full moon seems counter-intuitive: Ignoring the effect of the sun for the time being; we discover that high tides ocurr on opposite sides of the earth at the same time. This is also difficult to understand; surely if the tide is caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon, it is obvoius that the seas on the side closer to the moon would bulge out towards the moon. Why then, would there be a high tide on the opposite side? – You would think that on the side furthest
