Explain why the spring and neap tides occur periodically

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Gravity is universal, so the Sun also produces tides on Earth. The Sun is 27 million times more massive than the Moon, but it lies almost 400 times farther from Earth. Tides on Earth caused by the Sun are less than half as high as those caused by the Moon. Twice a month, at new moon and at full moon, the Moon and Sun produce tidal bulges that add together and produce extreme tidal changes: At those moon phases, high tides are exceptionally high, and low tides are exceptionally low. Such tides are called spring tides. Here the word spring does not refer to the season of the year but to the rapid rising up of water. At first- and third-quarter moons, the Sun and Moon pull at right angles to each other, and the tides caused by the Sun partly cancel out the tides caused by the Moon. These less extreme tides are called neap tides, and they do not rise very high or fall very low.