Why Moon and not Sun cause High Tide?

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Yida G

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Even though the gravitational force between the sun and the earth is way larger than that between the earth and the moon, the high and low tides are caused by the relationship between the moon and the earth. Why is that? And is the side of the earth facing the moon in high tide and the side not facing the moon low tide? or how does that work?

Also, why do smaller bodies of water, like lakes, ponds, and cups of water not exhibit tides?? because of the smaller mass? but why?
to the post below me, if you calculate the gravitational forces between the planets, the one between the sun and the earth is actually around 170 times stronger than the ones with the earth and moon. I think that the tide is caused by the moon because of the difference in gravitational forces between the front and the back sides of the earth with respect to the moon and the sun (with the sun, the forces are relatively the same, with the moon, there is a larger difference, hence the differing tides)

Can anyone back this up?? haha
 
Despite the fact that the earth revolves around the sun, the moon actually has a stronger gravitational effect on the earth. Just like the earth has a stronger gravitational effect on the moon than the sun does. If this were not true, then the moon would revolve around the sun rather than around the earth!
Also you're right about the sides of the earth facing the moon and high tide. The moon will exert a greater gravitational force on whichever side of the earth it is closest too. Keep in mind that gravitational force is related to both the mass of the objects and the distance between them.
Finally the reason you don't see a tide on smaller bodies of water is because it's too small for the tide to be apparent. On a small lake for example, the water may rise a quantity that would be extremely difficult to measure. In a cup of water, the surface tension may be even strong enough to completely negate the effect of the moon's gravity.
 
As far as the moon and not the sun, the distance in space as the earth is from the sun, is too large to have any gravitational attraction, besides the orbit. The moon is much closer, and has a smaller pull, but pulls on the earth directly, whereas the sun pulls on all the planets.

during the high/low tides, let me give an example"

say you had a magnet, and a glass box full of iron shillings with a solid, think wooden side. Put the magnet on the side of the glass box without the wood, and the iron shillings will move toward it, put it on the other side of the wood, and nothing will happen.

Same thing with the moon and tides, as long as the moon is facing the water, it pulls on it, but as soon as it moves behind the earth's mass, there's all that rock and core between the two things, and high tide occurs on the other side of the earth.

Ponds, lakes, and other such bodies of water won't have tides, because, as you said, there simply isn't enough mass to pull on.
 
Both do....the sun has about1/3 and the moon about 2/3 of the total tidal effect .
 
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