Show cause of ocean tides tides are caused by the gracita lional attraction or pull of the sun and moon upon the water and upon the earth itself the moon being so much nearer than the sun Is of course the principal cause when the moon is directly over a given place it pulls the water under it and thus tends to keep up a tidal wave just under the moon at the same time it is pulling the earth itself but it pulls the water more than the earth underneath simply because the moon Is nearer to the bater on the surface than it is to the solid earth behind it |