Tidal force

The tidal force is a secondary effect of the force of gravity and is responsible for the tides. It arises because the gravitational field is not constant across a body's diameter. When a body is acted on by the gravity of another body, the gravitational acceleration can vary significantly between the near side and the far side. This tends to distort the shape of the body without altering its volume; supposing it was initially a sphere, the tidal force will tend to distort it into an ellipsoid, with two bulges, pointing towards and away from the other body.

Related Topics:
Force - Gravity - Tide - Field - Acceleration - Sphere - Ellipsoid

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