How does the moon affect large bodies of water, but not smaller ones like pools or our bodies?
In: Physics
It affects small bodies as well, but since the effect is pretty much the same over all the small body’s mass there’s nothing to see, however with a very accurate scale you probably could measure slight weight variations.
When you have a large bodies of mass some parts are pulled more than others, this means some parts of the ocean are effectively heavier than others, so the heavier parts displace the lighter ones.
It does. The thing is however is that the ocean is huge beyond your ability to really picture. This means even a small effect over that much water adds up when concentrated onto a small section of the planet relatively. You just don’t have that much water in you and so though it effects the water inside of you it isn’t spread over enough area to see it’s effect. Humans are just really tiny.
The gravitational pull reduces by the square of the distance and depends on the mass of the other body it’s attracting. You’re too far away and doesn’t have enough mass to be affected in any way by it.
The moon affects things through the force of gravity. Like all forces, it is not a force _on_ something, but between two things.
You are not pulled down to the earth, you and the earth pull each other together. Same with the moon. It does not pull on you, you and the moon pull each other together.
The attractive force between larger masses is stronger than between smaller masses, and the ocean is _massive_.
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