- #1
AotrsCommander
- 74
- 4
I'm struggling to get my head around tidal acceleration. I get what is IS, I know how to calculate it, but what I'm not sure is how to apply it in a way that's meaningful to me.
So. If we took a stationary Earth (i.e. non rotating, tide-locked) and have the moon magically appear in orbit and applying the moon's ≈1.1e-06N tidal acceleraton, how would I work out what effect that has on the rotation speed (and thus period) of the Earth?
For, example, how would I calculate how long it would take for the Earth to become tide-locked to the moon (because that'd be the stable end-point, yes?) Or how long a day would be some time period (say, 4 billion years) after the moon appeared?
So. If we took a stationary Earth (i.e. non rotating, tide-locked) and have the moon magically appear in orbit and applying the moon's ≈1.1e-06N tidal acceleraton, how would I work out what effect that has on the rotation speed (and thus period) of the Earth?
For, example, how would I calculate how long it would take for the Earth to become tide-locked to the moon (because that'd be the stable end-point, yes?) Or how long a day would be some time period (say, 4 billion years) after the moon appeared?