Last week I said: >> In reply to Matt Broze, I doubt that the moon's gravitational attraction will set a 133-year record, since the moon reaches perigee once a month, though it is true that perigee is not usually aligned with the sun. (There would be a bigger pull on the earth if perigee coincided with the new moon.) The spring tide will probably be a little bigger than usual, but again, I doubt it will be a once in a century tide. >> Sunday I looked up explanations of what causes the tides in my copy of Bascomb's Waves and Beaches and at a couple of places on the Web, and I have to confess that they do not support my contention that spring tides should be higher during a new moon than during a full moon. It looks like they should be approximately equal -- at least in the middle of the ocean. As for the moon affecting the timing of some earthquakes (in the sense of being the last straw in a system ready to rip), I think it has been the subject of legitimate scientific speculation. Since the moon causes the surface of the earth to flex several inches twice a day, it does not seem to me an entirely unreasonable speculation. As Alex said, just look at the effects of gravitational flexing on Io! For some debunking of the solstice moon phenomenon, see: http://www.cnn.com/1999/TECH/space/12/17/moon.show.ap/index.html http://www.skypub.com/news/news.shtml Io news: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/ Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Dec 21 1999 - 09:10:33 PST
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