🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <scottj-211292091243@iamac-1.dml.georgetown.edu> scottj@magic.dml.georgetown.edu (John L. Scott) writes:
> The high tide facing the moon is, of course, explained by the gravitational
> pull of the moon.  However, there have been at least two explanations for
> the high tide on the opposite side of the earth:
> 
>    A.  The moon stretches the earth
>    B.  Centrifugal pseudo-force
> 
> So... which is it, A, B, both, or neither?
> 
Neither.  Well, sort of A, I guess -- it depends what you
mean by "strethes the earth".  Bad ascii graphics follow:

			       _______
                              /       \
          __                 /         \
         /  \                A    B    C
         \__/                \         /
         moon	              \_______/
			        earth

Points A, B, and C all experience some amount of "pull" from
the moon.  It's easy to see (as you point out above) that
point A is pulled more than B, the center of the earth.  It's
also easy to see from the above diagram that point C feels
less pull than B;  therefore C "rises" relative to B, just as
A does.

Is that what you mean by "stretches the earth"?

Shag


-- 
       Rob Unverzagt        |
  shag@aerospace.aero.org   |   The will to a system is a lack of integrity.
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