In Reply to: Beaches. posted by David UK on Wednesday, 26. October 2005 at 22:21 Bali Time:
Your remark about the tide going out each day at about 3:00 p.m. does not say much about your (basic) scientific up-bringing :~))
The moon does not stay put, but rotates around the earth at a rate of about 12° a day, or one rotation a month. The rotation is in the same direction as the earth's spin, so by the time the earth has done one rotation, the moon has shifted 12° further, and it takes an extra 50 minutes for the moon to be in the same position relative to a point on the earth. Therefore, the tidal cycle is not 24 hours long, but 24 hours and 50 minutes. Because of this, high and low tides are about 50 minutes LATER every day.