Why are there two tides a day?

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Elise Cutts |

TED-Ed

• April 2025

In the 17th century, Isaac Newton offered the first gravitational explanation of tides. As he correctly identified, tides are choreographed by the motions of celestial objects, and Earth’s tides in particular are mostly driven by the Moon. But the precise nature of this relationship is actually quite nuanced. Elise Cutts explains how the Sun and Moon are responsible for the tides. [Directed by Rémi Cans, Atypicalist, narrated by Alexandra Panzer, music by Salil Bhayani, cAMP Studio].