Title text:
They're up there with coral islands, lightning, and caterpillars turning into butterflies.
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Source: https://xkcd.com/3135/
this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2025
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Everyone was taught the tides look like two giant water bulges going around the earth in line with the moon.
That representation is oversimplified and false.
This is how the tides look like at a global level. It’s messed up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zi7N06JXD4
Ok, that clarifies things so much better for me. Thank you.
You understand it more after that?
I'm more confused, honestly. But that's hardly surprising.
The pictures they used to teach us the tides as children came to make less sense to me in regards to certain places having higher tides than others. I couldn't picture how. That animation clarified how tides are ordered by the Moon and made chaotic by the shapes of land. The planetary ocean bulges they taught us as kids stuck with me too long and prevented deeper understanding. It finally clicked for me.
Fair enough.
I just have a hard time translating what what shown in the video to what's actually happening. Might be a bit too much to take in at once.
Then again, I haven't cared much about the tides ever, and I only know that the tides are a function of the moon because of Bill Nye, I think.
My HS "education" was pretty bad, honestly.
Look at one spot and see how it repeats. Like the tides between South America and Africa kind of rotates through the Atlantic.