At the risk of starting this all over again ...

The two bulges (near side & far side) are not caused by centrifugal force. The bulges
are caused by the fact that the Moon's pull is stronger on the near side and weaker on
the far side. This is call differential gravity and it works out to be inversely
proportional to distance cubed, which is why the Moon's effect is somewhat stronger
than the Sun's.

Centrifugal Force is not needed to work this out. However, many people are perplexed
at how the far side bulge is created - to some it appears to be negative gravity. (In
reality, it is just less positive gravity.) For these people, it is easy to say that
Centrifugal Force causes the far side bulge.

One important point about CF is that it is a "fictional force," that is, it is only to
needed to make things work out for an observer in a "non-inertial reference frame."
For example, for someone on a merry-go-round, there is an outward force. However,
there is no force pushing outward; that is just an artifact of being on the rotating
frame. To an outside observer, the kid's inertia is pulling in a straight line, and
the ride is trying to pull the kid around in a curve.

The formulas that I worked out a few posts ago show the actual numerical values. One
interesting thing in the math is that the centrifugal force is exactly equal and
opposite to the gravitational force. Whether or not you use CF depends on whether
you're working in an "Earth-centric" reference frame. Either way, the part of the
math that varies with distance is the gravitational force itself.

Hope this helps.

-jeff



"Thom Stewart" wrote in message
...
Jeff,

If CF has an effect on the Tides, And this is a question) why isn't the
bulge on the far side of the earth, opposite the Moon in a single bulge?
Again a question, what makes the Liquid (Tide) stop at edges of the
globe and not continue to the off side of the globe?

Why isn't it a simple matter of Liquid Displacement due to the greater
amount of Liquid gathered for the High Tide under the Moon?

These are simple Layman's questions, that to me seem logical.

Ole Thom

Thank Jeff,

You're the man!!

OT