Causes of Tides

 

 

A tide is the periodic rise and fall of ocean water due to the gravitational pull of the moon and sun, which causes bulges in the ocean's water on either side of Earth. Isaac Newton first predicted that the tides were the result of this gravitational pull in the equilibrium theory of tides, but it was not entirely correct, as explained by Pierre Simon-Laplace's dynamic theory of tides. Laplace believed, instead, that there are several bulges around the globe at amphidromic points. The tidal day lasts nearly twenty-four hours and fifty minutes; therefore, people can use this time range and factor in other influences on the tide to predict high and low tides in certain areas around the world.