Scott,
How interesting to find somebody who is interested in the tides. They
suggest so much in relation to gravity. You'll see in Cater's article on
tides that he makes a case such that:
Tide behavior disproves the concept of gravity having uniform penetration
and that
The Sun produces little gravity.
I know that you don't agree that the Sun produces little gravity, but it
fits in so well with observation and the soft particle concept on gravity.
Cater feels that the gravity-inducing charge lies between the lower infrared
and the upper radar band, but the sun just doesn't emit much in that
frequency. Lo and behold, the sun doesn't seem to have much effect on the
tides, either, so what does that tell you?
I really think that gravity has the main impact on tides.
That the peak of the tidal bulge does not occur directly below the Moon is
accounted for with ease by that explanation which Cater offers, though the
explanation is not his. The Moon's gravity, directly opposed by the Earth's
gravity when the Moon is directly above, has zero impact on tides. In any
given instance, it was the horizontal, tractive gravity of the Moon, acting
on the horizon from a distance, which initiated the tidal bulge. The closer
the Moon gets to that bulge, the more directly overhead that the Moon gets,
the lesser force it exerts on the tides because the Earth's gravity comes
into play more and more. By the time the Moon gets directly over the tidal
bulge, not only is the Moon's force upon it practically null, but the bulge
had already started to decline as a result. The bulge on the other side of
the globe is an oscillatory remanent from the Moon's previous pass.
Give Cater's article a chance.
I live in Brazil, but let's do consider that article before we go to the
phone.
Later,
Dharma/Dean