Multiple moons and tidal forces

[Laslo Tremaine]

Tide-locked? As in the world does not spin on it's axis, or it spins exactly as it rotates there by creating the illusion that it doesn't spin. Like our moon's light side and dark side. Again it would be nice to have this explained.

<pendantic>
Just a major pet peeve of mine... But our moon does not have a light side and a dark side. Our moon is tidal-locked to the earth. The same side is always facing the earth, so what it does have is a near side and a far side.

The moon circles the earth once every 28 days so the moon has a 672 hour, day. Durring a full moon, the near side is in daylight. Durring a new moon, the far side is in daylight.

Once again, it's just a pet peeve of mine...
</pendantic>

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yeah....a planet small enough to have a surface that's not liquid can't have a whole lot of moons, from my understanding...

...at least, scientificallly.

But, hell, magic can do a lot of stuff.

 

[uv23]

Apologies for the tangent, but can you tell us more about what the oceans would be like if there were no moon? Using earth as an example. Thanks!

 

[MerakSpielman]

without a moon, earths tides would be minimal. They would only be altered by the sun, so tides would follow a perfect daily cycle, being highest at noon and midnight (when the sun is directly overhead or directly opposite) and lowest at dawn and dusk (when the sun is tangent).

Why a high tide at midnight? The sun (or moon) creates a bulge on the oceans pulling toward the sun, which lowers the ocean on the edges facing away, but a similar and only slightly small bulge forms on the opposite side from the flow from the now-narrow edges. (Correct me if I'm wrong, as always!)

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

Apologies for the tangent, but can you tell us more about what the oceans would be like if there were no moon? Using earth as an example. Thanks!

Colder. Someone with an earth science background could tell you why. As far as I know there's a thingie that happens when all that gravity sloshes around and things get warmer and stuff.

Let me know if this is too technical.

 

[Balgus]

BiggusGeekus:
Colder. Someone with an earth science background could tell you why. As far as I know there's a thingie that happens when all that gravity sloshes around and things get warmer and stuff.

Wow man... that is the most educated technical jargon i have ever heard. Can you dumb it down for the rest of us commoners to understand...

 

[Number47]

This is how I would do it. Create a chart. The easiest would be 1-24 for each hour of the day. Roll twice on the chart for the high tides each day. Roll twice for low tides each day. When the characters ask why the tides are so random, or why the tides cannot be charted, point them to those complex analyses stated. If THEY can't figure out the tides mathematically, they cannot challenge your "tide chart". The wizards or (more likely) clerics probably have magic to know the tides for the day, but no further.

The thing you would really have to work out with this system is what kind of damage is done when tides run close to each other. A high tide with a low tide an hour later just might empty an entire harbor and strand the boats on the rocky bottom. It would make a lot of sense for harbors to be able to "lock" water in.

 

[Kilmore]

not only would todal forces be extreme, but also other geologic activity. Earthquakes, Volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and tornadoes, all would be 100X worse than what we are experiencing now.

Just go back like a billion years (research) and that would be the environment you want. lots of geologic activity- and fierce ones at that...

Wow... Now THAT sounds like fun gamin'!

 

[Snoweel]

Heh.

It's threads like these that make me realise how stupid I am.

But at least I was smart enough to realise last time I read about moons' effect on tides, climate and axis of rotation, that my campaign is better off with one big moon.

I hate to have magic negate the laws of physics IMC to such a magnitude.

 

[Avatar28]

Hey, guys. I posted a request for help on another (astronomy related) board I hang out on. You can find the thread right here.

http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=2617&forum=1&0

Hopefully that will get the help you need