what would tides be like if the moon did not exist?
a) There would be no tides without the moon's gravity.
b) There would be one high tide and one low tide every 24 hours because of the sun's gravity, with the high tide at noon and the low tide at midnight.
c) There would be one high tide and one low tide every 12 hours, with high tides at noon and midnight and low tides at 6 am and 6 pm.
d) There would be one high tide and one low tide each 6 months, with high tide when the earth is nearest the sun and low tide when it is farthest away.
Tides occur because the gravitational force between two bodies decreases with distance. Gravitation is the universal force of attraction between all matter. It holds astronomical bodies together and attracts different bodies toward each other. Because gravity tugs on nearby things more strongly than on distant things, the oceans closest to the Moon feel the greatest attraction to the Moon. Being fluid, these nearby oceans move upward in response to the Moon's pull, until there is a balance between the upward force from the Moon and the downward force from Earth. The high tide on the far side of the Earth occurs because these most distant oceans feel the least attraction to the Moon. In essence, they are left behind as the Moon pulls the other parts of Earth toward itself with greater force.
In 1897 George Darwin, son of Charles, suggested that tides are causing the Moon to spiral away from us. His hypothesis was confirmed in 1969 after the Apollo 12 astronauts placed corner reflectors (like the red and orange ones on a car) on the Moon. By firing lasers from Earth to the Moon, off the corner reflectors, and back again, astronomers measured the round-trip time and, hence, the distance to the Moon. Repeating the experiment over several years, they confirmed Darwin's prediction. The Moon is receding at 2 inches per year.
To understand why the Moon is fleeing from us, imagine for a moment that neither Earth nor Moon rotated and that the Sun's tidal effect could be ignored. In this case, one of the two high ocean tides would be directly between Earth and Moon, while the other would be on the opposite side of Earth from the Moon
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The correct answer is a) There would be no tides without the moon's gravity.
To explain why, let's understand how tides are formed. Tides occur due to the gravitational pull of celestial bodies, particularly the moon and the sun, on the Earth. The moon's gravity has a much stronger influence on tides because it is much closer to the Earth compared to the sun.
The moon's gravitational force creates a tidal bulge, which is a distortion or deformation of the Earth's oceans. As the Earth rotates on its axis, the tidal bulge moves around the planet, causing the rise and fall of ocean levels, resulting in tides.
If the moon did not exist, there wouldn't be any tidal bulge or gravitational force acting directly on the Earth to create tides. Therefore, option a) is the correct answer.