Waves And Tides Worksheet (Page 3 of 4) in pdf

Waves And Tides Worksheet Page 3

OS1 The Oceans

Fall 2007

YOU MUST WORK

Activity 2: Tide- generating Force

INDEPENDENTLY on this activity.

Tides are generated by a combination of gravity and motion among Earth,

the moon and the sun. According to Newton’s Law of Gravitation, every

particle with mass in the universe attracts every other particle with mass.

The tide-generating force felt by the Earth is proportional to the cube of the

distance between the earth and other objects in the universe. The tide

generating force can be calculated using the following equation:

2GM

F =

Where:

F = tide-generating force felt by the Earth due to another object in

space.

= mass of the Earth = 5.98 x 10

= mass of the object in space

R = distance between the Earth and object (in meters)

-11

G = Universal gravitational constant = 6.6720 X 10

/kg*s

a = radius of the Earth = 6400 km

1. Calculate the tide-generating force due to the Sun, and the force due to

the Moon.

Numbers that you’ll need to make this calculation are:

= mass of Moon = 7.348 X 10

= mass of Sun = 1.983 X 10

= distance between Moon and Earth = 3.840 X 10

= distance between Sun and Earth = 1.495 X 10

Waves & Tides- Homework pg-3

Waves And Tides Worksheet Page 3