Tides without the moon

[Itisnotlogical]

I was thinking, what would happen to the tides without the moon? I've got two ideas, really.

1: Without the moon to equalize the tide, a gigantic tsunami occurs on the side of the Earth facing the Sun while the oceans are severely reduced on the dark side.

2: The Sun's massive gravity, unrestrained by the moon, pulls the oceans entirely away from Earth, creating a second, smaller body that may remain or boil away into space.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Er, I don't think so. The sun's differential gravity between the nearest and farthest part of the Earth is not enough to cause these effects. The moon doesn't "equalize the tide", it causes the most noticeable ones. Nor the moon acts to "restrain the sun's gravity". Without the moon, the tides will still exist due to the sun, but they will be smaller and less noticeable.

 

[Silvercrest]

I was thinking, what would happen to the tides without the moon? I've got two ideas, really.

1: Without the moon to equalize the tide, a gigantic tsunami occurs on the side of the Earth facing the Sun while the oceans are severely reduced on the dark side.

2: The Sun's massive gravity, unrestrained by the moon, pulls the oceans entirely away from Earth, creating a second, smaller body that may remain or boil away into space.

Sorry, itisnotlogical, but it is not logical.

If either one of those things was true, they would happen every time there was a solar eclipse. You know, when the sun and moon line up so their gravity is pulling the same direction? If you think the sun's gravity can do that on its own, it would happen worse with the moon helping.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Solar tides do occur, but compared to lunar tides, the effect is trivial.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I was thinking, what would happen to the tides without the moon? I've got two ideas, really.

1: Without the moon to equalize the tide, a gigantic tsunami occurs on the side of the Earth facing the Sun while the oceans are severely reduced on the dark side.

2: The Sun's massive gravity, unrestrained by the moon, pulls the oceans entirely away from Earth, creating a second, smaller body that may remain or boil away into space.

Or maybe this.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhAobPugvsk[/yt]

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I was thinking, what would happen to the tides without the moon? I've got two ideas, really.

1: Without the moon to equalize the tide, a gigantic tsunami occurs on the side of the Earth facing the Sun while the oceans are severely reduced on the dark side.

Nope, there will still be tides due to the Sun's gravity, but they will be about 45% of the amplitude of those due to the Moon. It's the gradient of the gravitational field -- how it decreases with distance -- that leads to the tidal effect. The equipotential of the water surface will cause it to bulge towards and away from the Sun leading to two high and two low tides per day, as per usual. The tides just wouldn't be as high or low.

2: The Sun's massive gravity, unrestrained by the moon, pulls the oceans entirely away from Earth, creating a second, smaller body that may remain or boil away into space.

Nope again, the Moon doesn't "shield" gravity. As far as we know, nothing does, apart from the fictional "Cavorite". The Earth is in orbit around the Sun -- effectively in free fall -- so the only other force due to the Sun's gravity that it experiences is the tidal effect. That tidal force is 5 x 10^-8 the strength of Earth's gravity.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

Well, it's nice to know my theories were missing apparently some pretty major gaps. I got an honest opinion and I know I was wrong

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

No worries, it's not intuitively obvious how tides are caused or why there are two high tides per day. I remember a Physics professor trying to explain this on a BBC program and coming a cropper doing so.

ETA: One thing that might change if the Moon were absent is the stability of the tilt of the Earth's axis (23°, known as its obliquity) against purturbations by other planets. It is thought that the Moon helps to maintain this angle, although it has been suggested that the obliquity was larger (54° rather than 23°) some 800 million years ago. Even so, such a change would happen very slowly compared to a human lifespan.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v396/n6710/abs/396453a0.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V62-4RC2NSH-1&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1211833712&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=4f6b91c1e68072999675e94b5022dbce

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

I'll just add, in case anyone cares, that if we had only the sun to create our tides, the timing would be a little different, but easier to predict. High tides would always peak around noon and midnight, while low tides would be lowest around 6AM and 6PM, give or take an hour or two thanks to time zones and Daylight Savings.

 

[Mr Awe]

The moon doesn't equalize the tides, it creates them. Periodically, when the moon and sun are lined up, you get a higher tide. But, the sun's contribution is less than the moons.

The moon does stabilize the Earth's wobble, which helps stabilize the climate. Because Mars does not have a large moon, it has been known to wobble as much as 60 degrees (IIRC) and essentially has had its poles pointing at the sun.

Mr Awe