The tidal force is a secondary effect of the force of gravity and is responsible for the tides. It arises because the gravitational force exerted on one body by a second body is not constant across its diameter. The side nearest to the second body experiences a greater force, while the opposite side experiences a lesser force.
In a more general usage in celestial mechanics, the expression 'tidal force' can refer to a situation in which a body or ...
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The tidal force is a secondary effect of the force of gravity and is responsible for the tides. It arises because the gravitational force exerted on one body by a second body is not constant across its diameter. The side nearest to the second body experiences a greater force, while the opposite side experiences a lesser force.
In a more general usage in celestial mechanics, the expression 'tidal force' can refer to a situation in which a body or material (e.g. tidal water, or the Moon) is mainly under the gravitational influence of a second body (e.g. the Earth), but is also perturbed by the gravitational effects of a third body (e.g. by the Moon in the case of tidal water, or by the Sun in the case of the Moon). The perturbing force is sometimes in such cases called a tidal force (e.g. the perturbing force on the Moon): it is the difference between the forces exerted by the third body on the first two.
When a body (body 1) is acted on by the gravity of another body (body 2), the...
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