LESSON 4: Tides

OBJECTIVES:

 State how tides occur.

 Explain what tides are.

Pre Test

Direction: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.

1. What do you call the rise and fall of Earth’s surface water?

A. Ocean

B. Wave

C. Tides

D. Surf

2. What are the tides caused by the moon? The sun? Respectively.

A. Lunar and Solar Tides

B. Solar and Lunar Tides

C. Selenium and Lunacy Tides

D. Lunacy and Selenium Tides

3. What are tides that occur when the earth, moon and sun are aligned, and the tidal range
between high and low tide is at its maximum?

A. Neap Tides

B. Spring Tides

C. Lunar Tides

D. Solar Tides

4. What are tides that occur when the moon and sun are at right angles to the earth's orbit, and
the tidal range between high and low tide is at its minimum?

A. Neap Tides
 B. Spring Tides

C. Lunar Tides

D. Solar Tides

5. When a tide occurs generally?

A. Every 9 hours and 15.5 minutes each day

B. Every 8 hours and 14.5 minutes each day

C. Every 7 hours and 13.5 minutes each day

D. Every 6 hours and 12.5 minutes each day

As Earth turns on its axis, its waters periodically rise and fall at different places. This rise and fall
of Earth’s surface water is called tides. The most noticeable of which are the ocean tides.

Activity 4. Label it on.

Direction: Draw the phases of the moon around the earth below. Label neap tides with
an N and spring tides with an S.

Two external forces affecting Earth cause tides. One is the gravitational pull of the moon. The
other is the gravitational pull of the sun. We call the tides caused by the moon lunar tides,
while the tides caused by the sun are called solar tides.

Spring Tides and Neap Tides

The earth and moon are constantly in motion around the sun, and all have their own
gravitational pull. So, when the alignment between the three bodies changes, it changes the
strength of the overall gravitational pull and therefore the size of the tides.

Spring tides are tides that occur when the earth, moon and sun are aligned, and the tidal range
between high and low tide is at its maximum. This happens basically twice a month, during the
full and new moon phases. At these times, the three bodies are in line and their gravitational
pulls reinforce each other. When the spring tide is happening, we see higher than average high
tides and lower than average low tides.

It's important to point out that 'spring' does not refer to the season. Instead, you can recall the
meaning of 'spring tides' by thinking of them as the tides that 'spring' out and then 'spring' back
with the most intensity.

A few weeks after the spring tides, we see the neap tides. These are tides that occur when the
moon and sun are at right angles to the earth's orbit, and the tidal range between high and low
tide is at its minimum. The neap tides occur when the moon is in its first and last quarter phase.
Because of the position of the moon and sun, their gravitational pulls on the waters of earth
partially cancel each other out, resulting in smaller differences between the high and low tides.

High Tide and Low Tide

When the gravitational pull is at its highest point, the result is high tide, which is the highest
level of the tide. When the pull is at its lowest point, we see low tide, or the lowest level of the
tide. The earth itself is also pulled toward the moon but with less strength. This pulls the earth
away from the water on the opposite side of the earth, making the water on that side bulge as
well. Therefore, high tide occurs on both sides of the planet at the same time.

Tides generally occur every 6 hours and 12.5 minutes each day. In 24 hours and 50 minutes,
two high tides and two low tides occur.

Activity 4.1.Tide up!

1. What are tides caused by?

2. Which exerts stronger gravitational pull on earth, the sun or the moon?

3. What happens when the moon faces one side of the earth?
Post Test

Direction: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.

1. What do you call the rise and fall of Earth’s surface water?

A. Ocean

B. Wave

C. Tides

D. Surf

2. When a tide occurs generally?

A. Every 9 hours and 15.5 minutes each day

B. Every 8 hours and 14.5 minutes each day

C. Every 7 hours and 13.5 minutes each day

D. Every 6 hours and 12.5 minutes each day

3. What are tides that occur when the moon and sun are at right angles to the earth's orbit, and
the tidal range between high and low tide is at its minimum?

A. Neap Tides
 B. Spring Tides

C. Lunar Tides

D. Solar Tides

4. What are tides that occur when the earth, moon and sun are aligned, and the tidal range
between high and low tide is at its maximum?

A. Neap Tides

B. Spring Tides

C. Lunar Tides

D. Solar Tides

5. What are the tides caused by the moon? The sun? Respectively.

A. Lunar and Solar Tides

B. Solar and Lunar Tides

C. Selenium and Lunacy Tides

D. Lunacy and Selenium Tides

REFERENCES

BOOKS

Garrison, Tom. Oceanography, An Invitation to Marine Science. New York: Wadsworth

Publishing Company, 1996.

Prager, Ellen J., with Sylvia A Earle. The Oceans. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Summerhayes, C. P., and S. A. Thorpe. Oceanography, An Illustrated Guide. New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 1996.

Thurman, Harold V., and Alan P. Trujillo. Essentials of Oceanography. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 1999.

WEBSITES

http://tidesonline.nos.noaa.gov

KEY TO CORRECTION
Pre Test

1. C

2. A

3. B

4. A

5. D

Activity 4. Label it on!

Spring Tide

Neap Tide

Activity 4.1.Tide up!

Post Test

1. C

2. D

3. A

4. B

5. A