The tides cause the day to become longer. The longer day causes the tides to happen less and less, so the rate at which the day gets longer itself slows down.
The energy lost on tides also causes the Moon to recede (this doesn't make sense to me: it should cost energy to boost the Moon to a higher orbit.) The farther Moon makes the tides weaker and also the moon orbital period increases, which changes the frequency of the tides.
All these effects are coupled. What are the dynamics and equilibrium solution, ignoring other external effects (Sun, Jupiter)?
2 comments :
boosting the moon to a higher orbit takes energy in deed. that energy comes from slowing down the rotation of the earth.
Huh. I'd figured the energy from slowing down the rotation of the earth gets lost as "heat" (frictional losses from creating tides).
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