Logically I understand that a.) the ocean is HUGE so the amount of incoming water is infitismally tiny compared to the whole, and b.) it is one large body so when the tide comes in there are other beaches where the tides goes out; but are there any other factors to this? Does gravity affect the mass/density of the water somehow that can also attribute to the change?
In: Physics
Generally it comes from a few dozen or hundred meters off shore depending on the geography. Meanwhile on the other side of the ocean water moves away from shore by a few dozen or hundred meters, and as a whole the entire ocean gets shoved slightly east or slightly west. The center of the ocean may move slightly east or west by a few cm.
This is due to the modest gravitational pull off the sun and the moon.
Large lakes also experience tides but it tends to be on the order of a cm or two.
The best analogy I can think of is sloshing water back and forth in your bathtub. Water on the center of the tub only moves back and forth a few cm, while at either end the moving water piles up forming a wave that rises and falls much more dramatically.
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