Eli5: how does the moon affect low and hightide of the ocean which is pretty heavy but does not cause other things which are lighter to start floating?

Question

Eli5: how does the moon affect low and hightide of the ocean which is pretty heavy but does not cause other things which are lighter to start floating?

In: Physics

Answer 1

The moon does not “suck up” the water. It’s the centrifugal force of the earth causing that. The moon only disturbs it. If the moons gravitation really would rise the water, you would only have one high-tide wave every 24 hours, not two of them every 12 hours. The second high-tide is *opposite* of the moon.