where does the water go when the tide is low?
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The opposite side of the planet…
To explain, the moon has its own gravity, which works just like the earth’s, and causes objects near the moon to fall towards the surface (the same way that if you throw a ball on the earth, the earth’s gravity will cause it to fall down towards the ground).
Because the moon is much smaller than the earth, normally we don’t notice any effect from the moon’s gravity here because the earth’s gravity is much stronger.
The moon’s gravity does have a very noticeable effect on the earth’s oceans however. It isn’t steereing enough to actually pick up the water, but it is strong enough to drag it around a bit.
The rides are created by this effect – the moon draws the water in the oceans towards itself, pulling the water around so that there is now of it on the side facing the moon (which creates a high tide). On the opposite side of the earth, because the water is being dragged away there is less water left (which creates a low tide).
As the moon orbits the earth, it drags the water with it, creating high and low tides as the moon passes over the point you are at.
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