What students should notice

• High tides form on both the Moon-facing side and the opposite side of Earth.
• Low tides form in the two directions perpendicular to the Earth-Moon line.
• The bulges rotate with the Moon position in this simplified rotating-frame model.

Explain and predict

About this simulation

This simulation illustrates the oceanic tides induced by the gravitational pull of a tide-generating body, here represented by the Moon. The deformation of the Earth's water envelope is exaggerated for visualization. One full cycle corresponds to 24 simulated hours in a geocentric rotating frame.

Use the controls above to play or pause the animation, step frame by frame, jump to key positions, or hide the cues and ask students to predict the next high-tide locations before revealing them.

Credit: made by weelookang@gmail.com using GPTo3 mini high. Updated 2026-04-28 and improved by Codex GPT5.4 High.

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