What the Moon is doing
Tides, the far-side bulge, and the fine print on falling.
123 3 pieces, best read in this order
- Poetry Why the Beach Disappears Twice a Day A poem about why the sea rises twice a day, not once. The idea Tides come not from the Moon's pull itself but from the difference in its pull across the Earth, which stretches the oceans into two bulges; that difference fades with the cube of distance, which is why the far more massive Sun raises less than half the Moon's tide.
The next stop goes deeper into this one.
- Unpacked Why the Sea Bulges Away From the Moon Our poem about the tides said the far side of the Earth swells too. Here is the full reason, and what tides are quietly doing to the Earth and the Moon. The idea Tides come from the difference in the Moon's pull across the Earth, and the same effect is slowly lengthening our days and pushing the Moon away. Opens once you’ve read “Why the Beach Disappears Twice a Day”
- Satire & Humour Gravity's Terms and Conditions (You Already Agreed) Nobody has ever read them. Everybody has agreed to them. The idea Gravity pulls every pair of masses together with a force proportional to both masses and falling with the square of the distance; because heavier objects also need proportionally more force to accelerate, everything falls at the same rate, and astronauts float because they are falling too.