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Tides Earth is the only planet with tides of any significance coming from two different sources. The Sun potentially adds about 40% to the strength of the tides the Earth feels. Earthly tides are highly complex. They can be at different heights for different areas. At some places the tides reach 50 feet or more. In some places you would hardly notice them. Also, besides tides occurring twice a day (two high and two low tides a day), the Sun can add to the tides to create really high and low tides at certain times of the year. Most of the moons do not experience tides. This is because most moons are in synchronous orbit about their primaries. Just as the Moon shows one face to the Earth, the same occurs for most moons in the solar system. With a planet with a synchronous orbit, the tide is frozen, it becomes simply a bulge. However, if the moon has an eccentric enough orbit, the tide starts to become significant. The bulge will be moving back and forth. Io is the moon the experience the greatest tides. Thus it has become the most volcanic moon, a pizza color world. If Io had an ocean, the tidal bulge (caused by Jupiter) would be 8000 higher than the Moon on the Earth. This tidal bulge is frozen in place because Io shows the same face to Jupiter. However, because of perturbations from Europa and Ganymede making Io's orbit more eccentric, the bulge wiggles significantly. Io also experiences highly variable tides from Europa and Ganymede. When Europa is closest to Io, the tide is similar to the Moon on the Earth. If you want real tides, try getting close to a black hole or even neutron stars or white dwarfs. These objects will rip you apart. Forward to Tilts and Seasons |