Mondo Knows Facts

Tides come in pairs because of stretching

The Moon pulls hardest on the near side, and the resulting imbalance bulges the far side too Gravity weakens with distance, so the Moon pulls the near ocean more strongly than the solid Earth, and the far ocean less. The difference produces two bulges, which is why most coasts get two high tides a day. The Sun adds a smaller effect, and when the two align the range grows into spring tides. It sits in Mondo's world geography collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

NOAA Ocean Service

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: tides, moon, oceans

Tides come in pairs because of stretching: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
The Moon pulls hardest on the near side, and the resulting imbalance bulges the far side too. The figure is taken from NOAA Ocean Service, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a world geography fact?
Yes. It sits on the World Geography shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.