The Sun's mass is about 27 million times more than the mass of the Moon. Why is the Sun's effect is less than the effect of the Moon on Tides on the Earth?Group of answer choicesthe Moon is closerthe Sun is heavierthe Moon is lighterthe Sun is on the opposite side of the Moonthe Earth is lighter than the Sun
Question
The Sun's mass is about 27 million times more than the mass of the Moon. Why is the Sun's effect is less than the effect of the Moon on Tides on the Earth?Group of answer choicesthe Moon is closerthe Sun is heavierthe Moon is lighterthe Sun is on the opposite side of the Moonthe Earth is lighter than the Sun
Solution
The main reason why the Sun's effect is less than the effect of the Moon on tides on the Earth is because "the Moon is closer" to the Earth.
Despite the Sun's mass being significantly larger than the Moon's, the distance between the Earth and the Sun is also much larger. The gravitational force, which is the force that causes tides, decreases rapidly with distance (it follows an inverse-square law). This means that even a small increase in distance results in a significantly weaker gravitational pull.
Therefore, even though the Sun is much more massive than the Moon, its greater distance from the Earth results in its gravitational pull being weaker than that of the Moon. Consequently, the Moon has a greater effect on tides on Earth than the Sun does.
Similar Questions
2. Both the sun and the moon exert gravitational force on the waters of Earth. This creates the tides we are familiar with. Look at the photograph below. Which of the following BEST explains why the moon has a greater effect on the tides than the sun? aThe moon is denser than the sunbThe moon is closer to Earth than the sun is.cThe moon has a lot more mass than the sun.dThe moon has greater acceleration than the sun.
What causes the tides?Gravitational pull of the sun onlyGravitational pull of the moon and sun, but the moon is stronger Gravitational pull of the moon and sun, but the sun is strongerGravitational pull of the moon only
Select which object's gravitational pull is the main cause of tides on Earth.The SunThe MoonJupiterI'm not sure
Earth's tides are caused by the gravity of the moon and the ____________.
Cassie is writing an equation to show the effect of the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon on the tidalrange. Which equation would Cassie use to show the effect of the sun and the moon on spring tides?Group of answer choicesSun + moon = spring tidesEarth – moon = spring tidesMoon – sun = spring tidesSun + Earth = spring tides
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