Hello, I'm an expert in the field of physical geography and oceanography. Let's dive into the fascinating phenomenon of tides. High and low tides are caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun, as well as the rotation of the Earth. Here's a step-by-step explanation: 1. Gravitational Pull: The Moon's gravity pulls on the Earth, causing the ocean waters to bulge towards the Moon. This bulge is what we experience as a high tide. 2. Centripetal Force: As the Earth rotates, the centrifugal force generated by its rotation slightly offsets the gravitational pull, causing a secondary bulge on the opposite side of the Earth from the Moon. This also results in a high tide. 3. Sun's Influence: The Sun, although much larger than the Moon, is much farther away and therefore has a lesser gravitational effect on Earth's tides. However, during a full moon or new moon, when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned, the Sun's gravitational pull adds to the Moon's, resulting in higher high tides and lower low tides known as spring tides. 4. Neap Tides: When the Sun and Moon are at right angles to each other relative to Earth (during the first and third quarter moon), their gravitational forces partially cancel each other out, resulting in less extreme tides called neap tides. The areas of water between the bulges experience lower gravitational pull and thus lower water levels, which are the low tides. read more >>

The following diagram shows how the moon causes tides on Earth: In this diagram, you can see that the moon's gravitational force pulls on water in the oceans so that there are "bulges" in the ocean on both sides of the planet. The moon pulls water toward it, and this causes the bulge toward the moon.read more >>