What is different with Python ?

[Steven D'Aprano]

Roy Smith wrote:
> Steven D'Aprano <steve at REMOVEMEcyber.com.au> wrote:
> 
> >High and low tides aren't caused by the moon.
> 
> 
> They're not???

Nope. They are mostly caused by the continents. If the 
Earth was completely covered by ocean, the difference 
between high and low tide would be about 10-14 inches. 
  (Over deep ocean, far from shore, the difference is 
typically less than 18 inches.)

The enormous difference between high and low tide 
measured near the shore (up to 45 feet in the Bay of 
Fundy in Canada, almost forty times larger) is caused 
by the interaction of the continents with the ocean. In 
effect, the water piles up against the shore, like in a 
giant bathtub when you slosh the water around.

The true situation is that tides are caused by the 
interaction of the gravitational fields of the sun, the 
moon and the Earth, the rotation of the Earth, the 
physical properties of water, its salinity, the depth, 
shape and composition of the coast and shoreline, the 
prevailing ocean currents, vibrationary modes of the 
ocean (including up to 300 minor harmonics), ocean 
storms, and even the wind. You can understand why we 
usually simplify it to "the moon causes the tides", 
even though the moon isn't even the largest 
contributing factor.

See, for example:

http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moontides/


-- 
Steven