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
Gravity pulls on all mass the same. A kilogram will experience the same force if it’s the same distance away no matter what it is a part of. A quadrillion kilograms of ocean will therefore feel a quadrillion times the force that a kilogram dumbbell will feel.
The moon pulls ever so slightly harder on one side of Earth than the other. It’s a difference in force of (by my math) something like 0.1%. This tiny difference causes a little bit of tidal force on every atom of Earth. This is slowly causing us to spin less. Since water is free to move, that small amount of force adds up and can move huge amounts of water.
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