- #1
Hak
- 709
- 56
- Homework Statement
- You went to the equator near a coast and measured the height of the sea every minute of the day for a whole year.
You found that high tide, which is when the height of the water reaches a maximum and then begins to decrease, occurs every 12 hours. You also noticed that the height of the high tide fluctuates over time, following the lunar cycle.
1. For which phase of the Moon does the maximum height occur, and for which does the minimum?
2. Estimate how much the height of the high tide varies over the course of a lunar cycle, as a percentage.
Make as many approximations as you need and find the necessary data if you don't know it by heart (obviously without looking up explanations of tides...).
- Relevant Equations
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1. All I know, from trite and rehashed information, is that the maximum height of the high tide occurs when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are aligned, that is, in the phases of new moon and full moon, whereas the minimum height of the high tide occurs when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon form a right angle, that is, in the phases of first quarter and last quarter.
2. All I know is that the height of the high tide varies over the course of a lunar cycle depending on the distance between the Earth and the Moon, which is not constant.
What calculations and approximations should I sketch out? A calculative solution is called for, but I don't know how to get calculations behind such a problem. Any advice on this is appreciated, I hope you can help me in this regard. Thank you very much.
(If you feel that this problem is not "Introductory Physics", you are very free to move it, unfortunately I am not able to understand the real difficulty of the problem, but to me it does not seem easy...)
2. All I know is that the height of the high tide varies over the course of a lunar cycle depending on the distance between the Earth and the Moon, which is not constant.
What calculations and approximations should I sketch out? A calculative solution is called for, but I don't know how to get calculations behind such a problem. Any advice on this is appreciated, I hope you can help me in this regard. Thank you very much.
(If you feel that this problem is not "Introductory Physics", you are very free to move it, unfortunately I am not able to understand the real difficulty of the problem, but to me it does not seem easy...)