How Does The Earth's Rotation Affect Our Ocean Tide Waves

Tides are the rising and falling of the sea, caused by the gravitational forces of the sun and moon. All physical objects attract each other with gravity, but the strength of the force depends upon the mass and distance of the objects. The shorter the distance or greater the mass, the stronger the gravity. Both the sun and moon have gravitational pulls on the Earth, but the strength of the moon’s pull is stronger than the sun’s because it is much closer to the Earth. The moon pulls the ocean water on the side of the Earth facing the moon more strongly than it pulls the rest of the Earth, so the water forms a bulge. Another bulge forms on the side of the Earth facing away from the moon. The moon holds these bulges while the earth spins on its axis. This process causes our ocean tides. The areas with the bulge have a high tide, while the other areas
Tides slow the Earth’s rotation speed in two ways. First, tides slow Earth’s rotation with tidal friction (such as bottom friction or the breaking of the waves). This effect causes a very slow, steady change in Earth’s rotation. It causes the rotation to slow by about 2 hundred-thousandths of a second each day, and it adds twenty seconds to each day every million years. (Phillips). The second way that tides slow rotation causes very small, but quick changes. In “Ocean Tides and the Earth's Rotation”, Richard Ray explains the two causes of these rapid changes by saying, “As the tides move water around the globe, the moment of inertia of the earth changes. By conservation of angular momentum, the solid earth changes its rotation rate accordingly. (2) As the tidal currents slow down or speed up, they exchange angular momentum with the solid earth, which is manifested in the rotation rate.” (Ray). Tides slow Earth’s rotation through slow, steady friction and by rapid changes caused by inertia and angular